Old School
by gman391
Summary: The ninja way has not always been a nice one. By chance Naruto has met those who know the old ways. Now our hero is trained in the old school of the ninja. Naruto shall live and die by stealth.
1. One small choice

Disclaimer: I don't know why I have to say this but, I don't own Naruto but I do own squad 13 so yay I guess?

'_thinking'_

"Talking"

**Scene Change (Time)**

Chapter one: One small choice

'_Gotta run...gotta hide...where there's always a way out. Where is one?' _

A young Naruto Uzumaki was running for his life. It had been a brilliant prank, if he did say so himself. Infiltrating the Inuzuka compound and dyeing all of their dogs a neon orange was not easy. Of course, actions have consequences. In this case, the entirety of the Inuzuka clan chasing him in order to return the favour was the consequence.

Looking around, the blond boy saw a dilapidated building that looked ready to be condemned. In another world, Naruto chose not to run inside instead continuing his way to the Hokage Tower. We are not talking about that world; in this one Naruto ran inside to escape and ran head first into an old man. The child found himself pushed up against a wall with a knife to his throat twenty seconds later.

"Easy Rikimaru...it's just a kid." A voice spoke from the other side of the room.

"Sorry Jin, you know how it is." The man known as Rikimaru said. He was an older man, probably in his mid 50's, bald and short, his face and arms were littered with scars.

"Right, because everyone feels threatened by a 10 year old kid." Another man said with a laugh. This man was the same age as Rikimaru, but taller with a simple gray ponytail and a large leaf tattoo coiling about his arm.

"Shut up Shin." The scarred man said good-naturedly, letting the boy down.

"Hey, kid, you want to explain yourself?" The man known as Jin asked. Huge was a good word to describe him, standing at 6'6 with a body builder's limbs, the man wore a pair of glasses and had an unruly mop of black hair that seemed to defy gravity.

"I, umm, played a prank on the Inuzuka's." The whiskered boy answered; long ignored survival instincts screaming that telling the truth was the only way to survive.

"Really, managed to prank the Inuzuka's? Mind if I ask what it was?" The huge man asked with a chuckle.

"I managed to turn all their dogs orange." Naruto said smiling at the memory of the dogs running around.

"That's pretty good for a brat in the academy. Guys we should train him, you know, create that ultimate shinobi people used to talk about when we were younger." Shin said after wiping away a tear.

"Shin, do you know how to train some one?" Rikimaru asked cynically.

"Can't be that hard." The gray haired man said with a shrug.

"Well, can't say I don't want something to do. Jin?"

"Kid's got potential, no doubt about it. But it depends on the boy. Kid, who do you think we are?" The bespectacled man asked.

"You guys...have the same look the Hokage-jiji gets sometimes. You've all been there when the wars happened. I don't know who you are, but I know you were all some of the best." The blond said after some thought.

"Good answer. We were some of the first ANBU, and yeah we've been through the mill. We learned how to fight and kill at the tail end of the first war. We killed our way to victory with Nidaime in the second war. We did it again in the Third war behind Yondaime and Sandaime. We were squad 13 and if you want it we will train you." Jin said considering the answer.

"That'd be nice. I don't really get a lot of help at the academy. But why train me? I'm the dead last." The blue-eyed boy said with a sigh.

"Kid, you managed to infiltrate one of the most difficult targets in Konoha. Only the Hyuuga compound, ANBU, and the Hokage tower are harder. So you have some talent; now why do you say you're dead last?" The scarred man said slowly warming up to the boy.

"I fail almost all of my academic tests and have trouble with the physical ones...I'm barely scraping by." Naruto said with a look that said he was pulling teeth by telling them this.

"Bullshit...academics mean nothing on the field and your physical problems comes from not having anyone to help train you. As we said, you have potential. Now Riki here is the Taijutsu specialist of the team. You and he are going to be playing for the next six months, or however long it takes to get you ready. After that, we'll start training you in other things. Be here tomorrow at 5 am." The huge leader of the group said.

"Hai, Jin-sensei!" The blond boy said happily and ran off.

Naruto didn't know what made him trust the old men and their offer of training. Just something in him, the fighter that would always come to fore later in his life, demanded it. It demanded to learn and grow. Naruto had never been one for deep thought; he trusted his instincts, as flawed as they might be.

"Jin-sensei ehh? I think I like that." The old man said with a chuckle.

"You sure we're doing the right thing?" The ever-pessimistic Rikimaru asked.

"Yeah we are. The kid is strong enough to survive this long. Strong enough that he didn't break the way most people would. It's a crime not to teach him how to use that." Shin answered.

"Something to that Shin. Not many could still know how to laugh after his kind of childhood." The Genjutsu user agreed.

"Hmm you've got a point. Now the question is...when did you get so philosophical?" The scarred man asked.

"I occasionally read the stuff Jin leaves on the table." Shin answered with a shrug.

The trio gave a slight chuckle at that.

"Alright, so I have a free hand training him?" The bald man said with a predatory smile.

"Try not to cripple the kid alright?" Jin said exasperated with his friend.

"Fine, but first things first, we have to get rid of the damn jumpsuit!" The short man intoned.

"Good idea...want to dress him up like Yondaime?" Shin asked only half jokingly.

"Are you trying to get the kid killed?" The huge man asked. Sometimes he didn't know why he put up with these two.

"No, I'm thinking tiger colouring." The scarred man said, surprising both of the others. Rikimaru hated fashion or clothes shopping.

"What?" Shin said his tone still shocked.

"Kid likes orange so we combine that and black and we can give him some decent camouflage." The bald man was nothing if not practical.

"Alright, I'll go talk to Mori." The bespectacled man said with a laugh.

**The Next morning**

Naruto had no idea what to expect, he'd never had someone who actively wanted to train him before. The teachers never helped so he had high hopes. Those hopes were quickly dashed when his new teacher said:

"First rule of training with us, no more of those orange jumpsuits."

Why? Why did no one understand the sheer awesomeness of orange? It was bright, it was happy and no one would ever forget you. Besides, these jumpsuits were cheap enough to afford, everything else cost too much.

"Why Rikimaru-sensei? Orange is cool!" The blond youtj shouted.

"Be that as it may, you are learning to be a ninja. Ninja's don't, or at least shouldn't, dress in bright colours that scream 'kill me'. However, you can still wear orange just not as bright...think tiger." The bald man said suppressing a groan. Damn this kid was hyper.

"Tiger?" The whiskered boy said blinking in confusion.

"Tigers are black and orange and blend into the jungle really well. So..." Rikimaru said. _'Gotta get him to start using that thing between his ears. He's not stupid, not if he can survive this long, but I don't think he's used to thinking things through...almost as if someone decided to fuck with his mind.' _Stowing that idea for future consideration, Rikimaru watched as the thought process visibly took place on Naruto's face.

"So I can have the awesomeness of orange and still be stealthy?" The blond said after a moment.

"Err yes...don't worry, Jin will take you to our supply guy after training today." The bald man said shaking head. They had their work cut out for them, that's for sure.

"Umm....will he let me buy from his store?" Naruto was cautious when it came to stores...they almost never let him in and if they did they charged him so much that he couldn't even buy anything.

"Mori's been through nearly as much as we have, he knows that you're no demon." The scarred man said with a sigh. It was peacetime, why did a kid have to go through this shit?

"So you know why I'm called a demon?" The whiskered boy asked picking up on the implications. Rikimaru was of two minds; one side said tell him the truth and damn the consequences. The other side said A.) It's against the law to tell anyone the truth and B.) Naruto needed a bit more maturity before he could be told. So compromise, give the boy a place to start but don't tell him outright.

"I do...but I can't tell you. No one can, it's the law. But if you're willing to work, you can probably figure it out. Remember: what do demons and your birthday have to do with each other? And how does one kill a demon anyway? That's all I'm going to tell you." The bald man said, happy that he had managed to find a way that allowed him to keep some pride in himself and help the boy.

"That isn't a lot to go by Rikimaru-sensei." The blond said with a frown.

"Well I've got to get you to use your head as something besides a rock. Think of it as motivation." The short man said with a chuckle.

"Hai Rikimaru-sensei." Naruto said scowling; his head was more than just a rock thank you very much.

"Good, now let's see your Taijutsu." The scarred man said with a grin. Naruto, taking that as his cue, began to go through the academy Taijutsu katas. Or at least he thought he did, only to have Rikimaru stop him midway.

"That was just horrible. Who the hell taught you to fight?" The short man said with an expression somewhere between disgust and horror. The boy's stances were all off, his punches were wrong, and his kicks weren't effective.

"Mizuki-sensei said that these were special stances and moves so I'd be stronger." The blond said confused, he knew these stances were right.

"Naruto, take everything you ever learned about Taijutsu and forget it. Rather than try to fix that mess we are going to start with the basics and teach you something more suited for you. Remind me to go kick this Mizuki's ass; that was just a blasphemy against all that is good and holy about Taijutsu." Rikimaru said unconsciously clenching and unclenching his fist.

"I didn't think I sucked that bad." The whiskered boy said a bit disturbed.

"Naruto, if I give you a hammer and tell you to cut a tree down is it your fault that you can't cut the tree down? No! It's my fault for giving you a fucking hammer instead of a saw. Come on, I'm going to teach you my own personal style. Learned it from a crazy ass bastard named Cho always muttering about the Tao...whatever that is." The scarred man said. _'I am going to teach this boy everything there is to know about fighting and when I'm done he will be able to kill anyone, including that bastard teacher.'_

"Where do we start Rikimaru-sensei?" The whiskered boy asked seriously, he loved training.

"At the beginning boy, like all good things. Taijutsu as we know it began before the jutsus, before the flashy techniques, before the magic sky swords. All we had was Taijutsu and our wits, using that we still managed to kill each other regularly. Taijutsu evolved, became formal, and people started practicing unique styles that require fancy blood limits and training methods. I don't need any of that and neither will you. At its core Taijutsu isn't about fairness or grace, it's about beating the living shit out of the other guy and killing him. People say it's a great honour to die for your country, that's bullshit. Honour comes from making the other guy die for their country you understand?" The short man regarded his student levelly.

"So, it's all about killing the other guy?" Naruto said in a tone usually reserved for discovering a new law of physics.

"That's right boy. Now let's begin." The scarred man said as he began showing Naruto how to move.

Four hours later and an exhausted Naruto stumbled into class. No longer wearing the bright jumpsuit he had become known for, Naruto looked changed. Mori did good work; the blond now wore a rusty orange jacket with black stripes to break it up. Combined with a black pants and a blue undershirt and Naruto looked like a serious shinobi.

"Naruto, what's up with the new clothes?" Kiba asked. He didn't like the guy, but he didn't have the hard on the village had against him either.

"Friend of a friend gave them to me." The blond said with a sad smile. Jin had been dead serious that he tell no one about Mori or his new senseis.

'_Always keep your true skill secret. No one expects the average guy or dead last to be a threat. That advantage is something to hold on to.' _ Had been Jin's words.

"Yeah right, stop trying to look cooler then Sasuke-kun!" The pink haired girl known as Sakura screeched.

It could've been because of the training, it could've been the newfound acceptance he had gain from his Senseis and Mori, it could've been random, but for whatever reason something snapped in Naruto. He wasn't going to put up with their bullshit anymore, they were supposed to be training to be fucking ninjas and she was screaming about him trying to be cooler then Sasuke?

He, Naruto Uzumaki, was going to become Hokage; he was going to seriously train. He was training in the old school, the school that wasn't about coolness or flashy jutsus but about killing people. Suddenly his crush on Sakura seemed pointless and beneath him, it didn't help him improve as a ninja it wasn't going anywhere so it was time to cut that part out.

"Shut the hell up Sakura." The blue-eyed boy said with an ice-cold voice.

'Hearing a pin drop' was normally just an expression, but in this case it was a literal truth. No one could believe that Naruto, of all people, had told off someone, especially his long-time crush. Hope surged in one girl's heart while rage did in another.

"What did you just say to me?" The green-eyed girl said fists trembling.

"I said shut up...I don't have the patience to deal with your screeching right now." The blue-eyed boy met the angry girl's stare without a flinch.

"You're going to pay for that Naruto!" Sakura screamed and launched a punch towards the blond. Despite his exhaustion, Naruto reacted by pulling a kunai, dodging and holding the blade against the girl's throat.

"Sakura, I'm done chasing you; I'm done fighting with Sasuke, so do both of us a favour and leave me alone!" He said viciously.

Sakura froze, she had always been able to hit Naruto, and he would take it. So what changed? '_Well at least he's not chasing me anymore even if this new Naruto seems ready to kill me for some reason'_ The pink haired girl reasoned, never once wondering whether or not the blond boy had reason to dislike her.

"Naruto get outside!" The teacher said snapping out of her daze at the jinchuruki's antics.

"But she..." Naruto tried to defend himself.

"Now! And be glad we don't suspend you for this." The woman snarled. The class was perplexed, yes, Naruto had gone a bit far but Sakura had thrown the first punch and they were training to be ninja, and Naruto was obviously having an off day. So then why punish just Naruto? Sakura was equally at fault for provoking people for no reason and pride was a good way to get someone killed.

"Kagome-sensei... shouldn't Sakura be punished too? She did start it after all." Asked a perplexed Shikamaru.

It was so troublesome; Naruto was hated by the village for no real reason...yes he pranked people, but that didn't explain the hate his classmate experienced. Being a genius, Shikamaru was used to figuring things out with ease, but this puzzle eluded him and it was annoying.

"No. That little...monster probably provoked her in the first place. It should know its place." The teacher said after a moment.

"Yeah, thing is, that Naruto isn't an 'it' he's a boy just like the rest of them. Tell me, is Mizuki here?" A scarred man said having arrived in the doorway.

"And you are?" The teacher said raising an eyebrow.

"Call me Riki, I've taken a liking to that boy and wish to talk to his Taijutsu instructor." The bald man said reasonably. He understood that most people hated the boy...they were stupid but they did have cause, at least in their own minds, to hate Naruto.

"You know what he is?" The woman said with a hiss.

"I do, and I remind you that it is not your place to talk about the boy. Now where is Mizuki?" The short man sometimes wondered why he and the others had fought so damn hard for these people.

"Don't know why you like the boy, but Mizuki should be in room 324." The teacher said with a shrug, not her problem.

Ten minutes later an inhuman scream rocked the academy. Rikimaru had found Mizuki and both of them being alone, the old Taijutsu master had educated Mizuki about why you didn't sabotage people and ruin perfectly good Taijutsu. When the other Chuunin in the academy found Mizuki, he was rocking back and forth muttering about a 'bad man with scars' and 'that's not an in hole'. Needless to say, Mizuki never quite recovered.

**6 Months later**

"Alright, it took forever but you're finally ready to start learning from Jin and Shin as well as a weapon." The scarred man said. He was genuinely proud of his student and himself.

Naruto had started out with nary a clue on how to use Taijutsu and now the boy could take anyone who wasn't a Taijutsu specialist themselves, and win. Provided, of course, they didn't have some sort of super defence shield.

"Yatta! But Rikimaru-sensei aren't kunai and shuriken enough?" The blond shouted enthusiastically.

"No, and thinking like that is the reason why we lose so many ninjas. Kunai and Shuriken are all right weapons, but neither is what I'd call suited to melee combat, that's why ANBU carry swords. Once you get to a certain point, just throwing massive amounts of kunai and shuriken won't work, so I get to teach you the fine art of using a sword." The bald man said with a shake of his head. The crash course he had given Naruto had covered a lot, but not everything.

"Like a katana?" The whiskered boy said in awe. Katanas were cool!

"Hell no! Katanas are for emo wannabe Samurai. You will be learning how to use a Kodachi, short enough for concealment but long enough to give you decent range." The scarred man said with a tick on his head.

Why did everyone love an overhyped bastard sword so much? Rikimaru wondered.

"What's wrong with Katanas?" The blond asked. Everyone knew Katanas were awesome, even if they weren't as awesome as Ninjutsu. So why did sensei dislike Katanas?

"You're not this stupid boy, figure it out." The bald man said after a second to work through his frustration.

Naruto began to think, using his mind was something he had been doing a lot of over the last few months.

"Katanas can't be concealed unless you're really big and... Everyone has an idea of how to fight a Katana user right?" The blue-eyed boy said after thinking it through. Rikimaru had hammered into his head that stealth, surprise, and precision were the hallmarks of a good ninja. Katanas could be precise, but they lacked the other two qualities.

"Right, Katanas have a very good reputation, not as good as the magic sky swords some people have, but good enough that everyone assumes that they are the epitome of swords. Katanas are only as good as their forgers and their users." The scarred man said looking at his student.

"Sensei, I hear you talk about magic sky swords a lot but what are they?" Naruto had been wondering about that for a long time.

"Well, I call them magic sky swords because they all have powers that can make a rookie like you a serious threat for some Jonin. Really none of them are connected to each other more than the users are. Some of them are chakra blades, like Raijin and the White Fang, others have the ability to drain people's chakra or increase your own and a very select few can actually manipulate the elements. Thing is that the users tend to start relying on their blades special abilities and forgetting how to fight without them." Rikimaru said with a laugh.

"Alright, so if I get one learn to use it but don't rely on its abilities." The blond said in a musing tone

"Very good, you see why I started making you use that head of yours?" The bald man said to his student. Honestly, teaching Naruto had done wonders for his outlook, Rikimaru mused. He was still a cynical, pessimistic man but he could honestly say he was happier now then he had been a year ago.

"Hai sensei. So when do we start?" The whisked boy said taking his sensei's good-natured ribbing.

"I still have to get you your practice blade; we'll start today after the academy lets out. I n the mornings you'll be learning Ninjutsu from Shin and strategy from Jin. Now, go talk to Shin he should be in the complex." The old man said with a smile.

The complex was the building where Naruto had first met team 13, and it was where, more often than not, you could find them and the few other old timers in the village. Naruto nodded and took off.

"So Rikimaru, what do you think of the boy?" The old Kage said appearing behind his comrade.

"He's got talent Hiruzen; a shame the academy never saw it. Still, I'm surprised that you let arguably the most dangerous ANBU team in history take on a student." The scarred man said. Hiruzen had always been an opponent of teaching children to kill and tended to coddle them.

"The boy deserves the best, and his enemies aren't going to hold back just because he's half trained. Besides it'll piss off Danzo." The bearded Kage said with a smile.

"That guy still being a whiny bitch?" Rikimaru said shaking head. No one really like Danzo, not even his teammates had liked him.

"Unfortunately yes, and for whatever reason my teammates listen to him." The old Kage said with a sigh. Those three had been getting worse and worse over the years.

"You really should dissolve the council and get new guys." The short man commented as he and his friend walked into the complex.

"Like you three?" Hiruzen said with a laugh.

"Remember the last time you left us in charge?" The bald man deadpanned.

"That battle won the war for us." The old Kage pointed out reasonably.

True, the battle of Kirukei Pass had ended Kumo's resistance and led to the death of the Shodai Raikage. But the cost had been prohibitive.

"We got lucky." The scarred man said waving off the fact that the three of them had held out against a vastly superior force for 4 hours until Konoha had been able to reinforce them.

"As long as you and the others refuse to take up council seats, I have to work with what I have." Sandaime said with a sigh.

"You've got a point there." The bald man acknowledged.

"So, does he know?" Sarutobi asked, serious now. Rikimaru could keep a secret, but when it came to who you were, he often didn't bother.

"Of his heritage? Not a clue, I've given him the means to figure out about his burden but he hasn't figured it out yet." The scarred man returned levelly.

"There was a reason why I didn't tell him!" The old Kage said with some venom.

"I know, but it's better if he figures it out on his own or has someone he trusts tell him then have it thrown at him when one of these chuckleheads decides to try and kill him." Rikimaru pointed out.

"You really think so poorly of the village?" The Sandaime asked, saddened. If people like Rikimaru, who had bled and nearly died for this village, didn't trust it, what did that say?

"Kyuubi caused a lot of grief and pain to people, and rather than deal with it, most people just transferred their feelings about the fox to him. Most of them won't do anything but it only takes one." The scarred man said with a shrug.

"I suppose you're right, but what happens if he doesn't figure it out before someone tells him?" Sarutobi asked his old friend. You learn a lot about a person when you legitimately train them. Rikimaru was the best person to ask about Naruto's mental state and ability.

"I really can't say. The boy has an almost miraculous ability to deal with trauma, but that ability has limits and takes time to work. Hopefully there will be someone else there to calm him down and tell him the truth." The old Taijutsu specialist said with a sad smile.

"Indeed, sometimes I wonder how he copes with all the hate against him and still stay happy." The old Kage said out loud to himself.

"It's a defence mechanism from what Jin says. The boy is too stubborn to back down, and despite the lack of any formal teaching or raising managed to cobble together a working mind based on observation and sheer inability to quit. Somehow, Naruto knows that if he ever gave into the hate then he would lose himself and prove everyone right." The scarred man answered.

The trio had discussed it often, Jin because it was a miracle of human psychology, Shin because it was a puzzle and Rikimaru because he had to figure out how to push the boy.

"Really...a child shouldn't need that ability." The Professor said sadly.

"Just be glad we got to him now, a year or two later and that happy idiot persona of his would've been carved in stone and it would take an apocalypse to break it." The scarred man said trying to alleviate his friend's concerns.

"I guess, come by the tower sometime with the rest of them, it's nice to see people my age who are reasonable." Hiruzen said puffing his pipe as he walked off.

**Complex**

"So you're finally here kid? I thought I was going to die before you'd be ready." The tattooed man said smirking.

"Shin-sensei, that's not fair; I had to learn everything from scratch and Rikimaru-sensei's a perfectionist." The blond whined.

"Got a point there...now, you have a large chakra reserve this means that you can learn lots of high level jutsus, but we won't be doing that until you can do the basic three without fail." The ponytailed man said grinning at his new student.

"I can already do Kawarimi and Henge, but I can't make a Bunshin." The blue-eyed boy said with a grimace.

"You do know that you need to make a Bunshin to pass the genin exam right?" Shin said exasperatedly.

"What?! That's not fair!" The whiskered boy screamed. He did have more control, but unless he was actually fighting or with someone he didn't trust (this included most of Konoha) the boy didn't use it.

"What did Riki tell you?" The gray haired man said patiently.

"Life's a bitch, you have to make it your bitch." The blond said with a sigh.

"That's right. So we're going to work on chakra control until you can make a Bunshin. To start, climb up the wall using only your feet. Too much chakra and you'll be blown off the wall, too little and you'll only get a few steps." The tattooed man said.

"Hai sensei." Naruto said and began to get to work. After an hour of doing this, Shin sensed someone.

"Naruto, keep working I'm going to get some coffee." The ponytailed man said.

"Hai." The blond said not really paying attention. Shin left and appeared behind the new presence, it was a girl, the Hyuuga Heiress no less.

"Well, well, a Hyuuga, don't often see your family around here." The tattooed man said smiling as the girl jumped.

"I-I w-was just..." The heiress tried desperately to come up with a reason for being here.

"...watching my student. Look, if you really do care about him, talk to him, he won't reject you, and if you don't stop following him people are going to talk." The man said fiddling with his ponytail.

"A-ano but I'm not pretty or strong like the other girls." The shy girl said, looking down at herself. Shin wondered what the hell her clan had done to her to make this girl so full of self-loathing.

"Do you really think Naruto cares about your physical qualities? Naruto looks at people's spirits and judges them by that, not what they can do or look like." The gray haired man said gently. Naruto had improved greatly, but he needed friends his own age, not a bunch of old geezers.

"B-but what i-if h-he rejects me?" The pale-eyed girl said. That had always been her fear; if Naruto rejected her then she wouldn't be able to take it.

"If you think he'll do that then you really don't know him at all." Shin said coldly.

Hinata thought about this for a moment. Naruto never gave up and never let anyone bring him down. This was true, but now that she thought about it, Naruto had never shown hostility to anyone besides Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke, because of the competing egos and Sakura, well no one knew why the blond had snapped that day but all concluded that Sakura had deserved it.

"H-hai." Hinata said with increasing determination. This new 'sensei' of Naruto's was right, even if Naruto didn't immediately accept her feelings for him she would have to get close to even have a chance.

"You can talk to him during class, right now he's training so run along." The tattooed man said with a chuckle, looked like the girl got it. Pairing the Heiress of Konoha's most prestigious clan with the village pariah? That was a prank of consummate skill.

"A-ano...okay." The blue haired girl stuttered out as she bowed and left. Shin shook his head at the girl. She would get confidence around Naruto or suffer a mental break down trying.

"Kuso, this is a lot harder than I thought!" Naruto shouted.

"You're still using too much chakra kid. Calm down and concentrate on the smallest amount of chakra possible." The tattooed man said with a sigh.

"I'm trying!" The blond said through clenched teeth.

"Alright, try to feel your chakra, what does it feel like?" Shin asked taking another tack.

"Raw and chaotic, there's just too much. It's like a storm." The Jinchuruki said after focusing for a moment.

"I was afraid of that...looks like we have to focus on meditation and calming that storm. Until you learn to control that storm your chakra control is always going to be sub-par compared to others your age. It doesn't matter as much with high-level jutsu, but it does mean you're going to have trouble using genjutsu, and for all of your stamina you'll lose most of your fights." The grey haired man said still fiddling with is ponytail.

"Nani?" The whiskered boy said in confusion.

"Alright, suppose we both have a barrel of water. If I use a teaspoon and you use a bucket who will run out of water first? Even if you have a bigger barrel?" Shin asked patiently.

'_I really wish that someone had bothered to teach this kid logic when he was younger.' _The tattooed man mused.

"I will because I'm wasting more water." The blond said in understanding.

"Exactly, so we'll have to start at the beginning with the academy exercises for first years." The ponytailed man said.

"There are academy exercises?" Naruto asked in surprise.

Shin resisted the urge to slam his head into a wall. Why, oh why, did they have to take the kid with the most potential but least training?

"Do you actually learn anything at the academy?" The older man asked only half-jokingly.

"How to pull pranks." The boy said after a moment's thought.

"Of course." Shin said in exasperation. True, the boy had potential, but to reach it you had to work through a mountain of neglect.

"So what are the exercises Shin-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Take a kunai and make it levitate using only your chakra." The tattooed man said.

**At the Academy.**

'_I have to talk to him today I just have to. I promised!' _ Hinata's thoughts were focused on one action, talking to her crush.

Others seemed to notice, but dismissed it. Hinata got like this every few days and it never came to anything. Naruto walked in looking frustrated but otherwise normal and received his daily glare from Sakura and Sasuke. Shrugging, the blond sat down by himself as he usually did. Unlike most days, where Kagome arrived at the last moment, a new man walked in with a scar across his face and warm eyes.

"Hi everybody. Kagome-san had to retire so I'm your new sensei. You can call me Iruka-sensei."

The scarred Chuunin took a moment to glare at Naruto before starting his lecture on the Hokages. Naruto paid him no mind, but causally wondered why it was only the old people seemed to like him.

'_Don't worry about it. Now if only I could figure out Rikimaru's riddle. My birthday is the day of the Kyuubi attack, so the reason they hate me has to do with that but how does one kill a demon? Maybe this guy will tell me.'_

"And so our greatest Hokage gave his life killing the Kyuubi no Kitsune." Iruka droned on.

"How?" The blond boy piped up. Maybe this guy would give him some answers.

"What do you mean how?" The teacher asked. The Hokage and his own sense of honour demanded that he treat everyone of his students the same. So he couldn't just ignore the question.

"Well, a man once asked me how you kill a demon and I haven't been able to figure it out." The blue-eyed boy said. The rest of class realized it was a very good question, how _does_ one kill a demon?

"A highly classified jutsu that can destroy demons." Iruka answered quickly. It was the standard answer that he had heard given to other students who asked the same question.

"I thought that too, but that doesn't work. If we had a powerful enough jutsu to destroy a demon, we would advertise it and use it to prove our superiority to other villages." The whiskered boy said, shooting down the objection.

"The dobe has point. How did Yondaime kill the demon?" The last Uchiha spoke up. If he could find out how the demon was killed, he could learn it and use it to kill Itachi.

"....." The teacher wasn't saying anything.

"Come on Iruka-sensei how?" Kiba shouted.

"I'll find out!" Ino said bringing up her hands to start her family jutsu. She wanted to impress Sasuke, which explained why she hadn't stop to think about the consequences. But she was facing offside so Iruka didn't see her until the last second.

"Ino don't!" Chouji said, but it was too late. The mind walker had already entered Iruka's mind; a few moments later Ino came out and screamed 'demon' pointing at Naruto.

"What?" Everyone else said collectively.

"Yondaime sealed the fox into Naruto when he was baby, and now the fox controls him!" The blonde girl said.

Naruto was in a state of shock...the Kyuubi was inside him? It couldn't be true! And yet it all added up...his birthday, the hatred, the subtle campaign of torture. The blond boy began to cry; it was all true, he was the demon, he killed all of those villagers. It was all too much; the hatred had been bad enough. But to think that they were justified, that the villagers right to do that.

"Naruto is no demon. How do I know this, because despite his antics, Naruto has never been violent without cause. Think about a glass of water, does the glass become water? No, it remains a glass. Naruto is the only thing keeping the Kyuubi at bay; he is not, despite the prejudice of the village, a demon." Shino spoke calmly, further shocking everyone in the room. Shino never talked that much.

Hinata looked at her crush he seemed so defeated. _'I have to help Naruto-kun now!'_ The girl said to herself as she walked over to the blond and gave him a hug. It was the first time Naruto had had physical affection in six years, on instinct he wrapped his arms around her and held on to her like a drowning man. _'I will not faint, Naruto-kun needs me. Why does he always have to endure so much?'_ The heiress thought as she made wordless sounds of comfort to the blond.

"Shino is right. Demons can't cry can they? Ino, you will be suspended for what you did. Yes, Naruto does contain the nine-tailed fox, but he is its jailor not the fox. This is an S-class secret that you are forbidden to tell anyone else." Iruka was, if nothing else, honest with himself. He had seen the Kyuubi attack, felt its malevolent chakra, and looking at the broken, sobbing boy, Iruka was forced to conclude that he and the entire village had done a grave disservice to the boy.

"Girl, you and the bug kid take Naruto to the Hokage and tell him what happened. The rest of you are going to hear a little story." The huge man known as Jin said walking into the classroom.

"Hai." Hinata and Shino said and half-carried, half-dragged the Jinchuruki out of the classroom.

"Not that I wasn't going to recommend that anyway sir, but who are you?" The scarred teacher asked. Instantly recognizing the man as the most dangerous person in this entire building.

"Me? I am Jin Azuma, retired Jonin of Konohagakure. I am also, among other things, the closest thing that boy has to family outside of the Hokage. Now kids, I've seen a lot of action, I fought in all three of the great Shinobi wars. My story takes place in a place called Satoshi's Oasis, in the Land of Wind.

**Satoshi's Oasis (40 years earlier)**

It was during the closing days of the Second Great Shinobi War, my team and I had been there since the beginning and at the time Konoha and Suna were enemies. There had been rumours of a monster somewhere in Wind and the Nidaime, paranoid man that he was, sent us to check it out.

"Damn it, what the hell is this thing?" Rikimaru, one of my best friends, shouted as we dodged a massive sand-covered claw. Rikimaru was the Taijutsu specialist of the team. Hell of a fighter, just don't mention his height.

"I think it's one of the bijuu." Shin, the Ninjutsu specialist of the team, said. Great guy, funny sense of humour, and a weird obsession with his ponytail.

"How the hell are we supposed to fight a fucking demon?" Riki cursed.

"The same way we fight everything else. Shin; try to slow that damn thing down with some Suiton jutsus. Riki, kill that bastard monk, I'll keep them distracted." I said. Whom were we facing? Well we were facing Shukaku and some crazy ass monk who had evidently summoned the thing to avenge the 'motherland'.

Distracting a demon who can manipulate the sand in a desert is hard. Doable, but hard, worse, I was Genjutsu specialist, meaning that I didn't have that many elemental jutsus at the time to give the Ichibi pause. I learned from that mistake after this incident. Back to what I was doing, dodging like mad while throwing off my personalized explosive tags, which were a fair bit stronger than normal tags. A fair bit doesn't really matter when the other guy can regenerate as long as he has sand.

Shin, Kami bless him, was right beside me, throwing water jutsus around like candy. This slowed down Shukaku a lot. Wet sand becomes mud and requires a bit different chakra to manipulate the same way. Of course, this didn't mean that we weren't fighting for our lives or that we weren't incredibly lucky to survive. We had been keeping the demon at bay for several minutes before a massive chakra explosion rocked the area.

"Jin we've got a problem!" Riki shouted at me from the distance.

"What is it?" I shouted back, dodging another sand blast.

"Yeah, killing the monk? Bad idea; the crazy ass bastard fused himself with the Shukaku rather than die!" Riki said landing beside me.

"So that means..." I said trailing off. Shit, monks can't really stand up to ninja's normally because we cheat. But they usually have a lot of chakra, even for us.

"That our friendly demon has just gotten a power boost and is even more insane then he was." Shin deadpanned.

"Great. Ideas?" I asked as we all kawarimi away from another storm of sand spears.

"Pray to Kami?" Shin said trying to lighten the situation.

"Useful ones Shin, useful ones." I snapped.

"Well, if you two can buy me some time, I might be able to reverse the summoning process and send him back to where ever he came from." Shin said after a moment.

"How much time?" I asked. Half-afraid of the answer.

"Five minutes." Shin said eyes down cast.

"We'll see what we can do. Riki let's go!" I ordered and we both launched ourselves at the demon.

"Jin, remember what we did in Kumo?" Riki asked. At the fall of Kumo, we, along with a couple of others, made some creative use of the enemy lightning techniques to blow up one of the gates. The same principle could, reasonably be applied to other things.

"Yeah, but where are we going to get a thunderstorm?" I asked as I threw another explosive tag into Shukaku's face.

"Water conducts, so we don't have to use that strong a technique." Riki pointed out.

"Good, because if this doesn't work, we're screwed." I said and began flashing through hand signs.

"We're screwed anyway if Shin doesn't pull through!" Riki shouted as he started his own technique.

"Point taken. On 3 then?" I asked.

"On 3." He agreed.

"1..." We both said.

"2..."

"3!"

"Rairyuudan no Jutsu!" Riki called, and a lightning dragon formed behind him and rammed itself into Shukaku's stomach.

"Inazuma Arashi no Jutsu!" I shouted and sent a dozen smaller bolts of lightning strike all over the demon's body. The lightning did it job, driving Shukaku back and quite a bit of his body looks like blackened glass now. However, those attacks drained both of our chakra levels to the bone and we're barely able to stand.

Shukaku screamed in anger and pain and prepared to kill us both with one blow. We're in no condition to dodge. Only to find that the five minutes are up and the demon disappears.

"You guys look like shit." Shin said, walking up to us. He looked tired and worn out, but was in better shape than us.

"Shut up Shin, you're not looking so hot yourself." Riki growled.

"Whatever, job's done let's head home ehh?" I said making myself stand through sheer force of will. Rikimaru and Shin grinned as we dragged ourselves back to Konoha.

**Konoha Academy (present)**

"Kids, the reason I told you that story is so that you would understand the difference between humans and demons. Demons do have intelligence after a fashion, but all they are, all they ever can be is monsters. Monsters that want nothing more than to destroy. Humans can become monsters too, but you can tell because they've lost what makes them human." Jin finished his tale.

"Class, we will come back tomorrow, you can leave early today. If any of you have any questions feel free to ask me or Jin-sama here." Iruka said as most of the class was still in a daze at hearing Jin's story. It was amazing; three Shinobi had stood up to a demon and won.

"Just Jin, and I'd love to help, but I've got to go check on my student. Yamanaka, come with me. This village takes a dim view when it comes to telling secrets." The huge man said.

"Why are you training Naruto? Is it because of the Kyuubi?" The dark haired avenger asked. _'The dobe certainly needs help, but I could use that power more and better.' _ He thought. Sasuke had nothing against the blond besides the rivalry thing, but believed that his need to get stronger superseded everyone else's.

"No, it's despite that. The kid has more potential then I've seen since Yondaime. Besides, the others and I were bored. And no, Uchiha, we will not train you." The bespectacled man said with a shake of his head.

"Why not?" Sasuke almost spat. It had been a very long time since someone had refused him anything and he wasn't used to it.

"Honestly? We just don't see the need. You'll grow strong on your own, without our help. Naruto would too, but by the time he did, it wouldn't have mattered. That and the kid's grown on us." The black haired man said with a smile as he walked out.

**Hokage tower**

"Naruto-kun listen to me, you are not the demon you are the container." Sarutobi had been, without much success, trying to coax Naruto out of his shock.

"N-Naruto-kun, Hokage-sama i-is r-right. You're t-too nice t-to b-be a demon." The Hyuuga heiress hated seeing him like this. It wasn't right; the sun shouldn't disappear so quickly. Naruto said nothing, but one could almost hear the immense effort he was putting forth.

'_I am Uzumaki Naruto. I am the jailor of the nine-tailed fox. I will not fail the trust Yondaime gave me and I will become the Hokage to protect everyone!'_ The blond declared, as through sheer force of will he forced his mind back together.

"Naruto, are you okay?" The grandfatherly Kage asked.

"I think so. Thanks, Jiji and, Hinata was it?" The blond asked.

"H-hai!" The shy girl squeaked.

"Thank you so much for being there for me. You didn't have to do that, but if there's anything I could ever do for you, just let me know." Naruto said giving a formal bow to the heiress.

"A-ano, I d-don't need t-that I j-just want t-to be y-your friend." The pale-eyed girl said. She wished that he hadn't found out the truth, but a promise to do whatever she needed? That was more then she had ever hoped.

"Then you will be my best friend Hinata-chan!" The blue-eyed boy declared.

"Uzumaki, if you are well, I'll take my leave." The bug-using boy said, preparing to leave.

"No Shino, you're a friend too. If you want to be that is." Naruto said almost shyly.

"I would be honoured Naruto." The shades wearing boy said without hesitation.

"Then let's all go for Ramen." The blond haired boy said happily.

"Maybe later boy, but you have sword training with me remember?" Rikimaru said walking into the Hokage's office.

"Hai Rikimaru-sensei!" The Jinchuriki never argued when it came to training.

"You two kids did well. Come on Naruto." The bald man said as he walked out of the office.

"It appears that Naruto will only be getting stronger from this experience. You two are both forbidden to talk about Naruto's burden. Understand?" The Hokage said to the two remaining students. They both nodded and silently vowed never to reveal Naruto's burden.

"Good, stand by him if you can. He needs more friends. Now run along, I have no doubt that your teacher has let class out early today." Sandaime said with a smile and watched the two leave. _'I wonder what's in store for you Naruto.'_ The elderly Kage mused.

Jin soon came in, dragging along a terrified Ino. The Hokage gave a questioning look.

"Little brat told the secret." The huge man said with a scowl.

"I see, leave Ms. Yamanaka here with me. I will deal with her." The Sandaime said his eyes had become very cold.

"Alright, see you around Hiruzen." Jin said walking out of the door.

"Now, Ms. Yamanaka, at what point did you think it was okay to use your abilities to enter your teacher's mind and steal state secrets? The Kyuubi is an S-class secret young woman. If you had time to find the truth, you had time to find that out." Sarutobi said.

His voice could have cooled hydrogen.

"I...I just wanted to impress Sasuke-kun." Ino said with a shudder. Where was the kindly old man she normally saw?

"So, for a boy you would sell out your village?" The Hokage demanded. His voice had become even colder.

"No! I..." The young girl began before Hiruzen interrupted.

"Save it Ms. Yamanaka. It is only because of your father that I do not have you killed right here and now. As it stands, if you wish to live and serve the village I will have a number of rules you will follow."

"Yes Hokage-sama." The blond girl said, terrified by the Hokage.

"First, you will have your mental abilities sealed. This is non-negotiable; you have proven that you cannot be trusted with them. When, and if, you make Chuunin, the seals will be released. Second, you will disassociate yourself from Sasuke. Any attempts to talk to or connect with Sasuke outside of schoolwork are prohibited. Third, you will apologize to Iruka and Naruto publicly. Fourth, if you ever make a hostile move against any fellow Konoha citizen again I will throw you into the darkest cell I can find. If you ever reveal secrets again you will be executed." Hiruzen said.

His voice was cold and carried the same inevitably that a natural disaster did. It would happen, no matter what anyone did to stop it.

"I understand Hokage-sama." Ino said, her eyes watering.

"Good. Bear." The Sandaime called.

"Yes sir?" An ANBU appeared from the window.

"Take Ms. Yamanaka and apply the seals." The Hokage ordered.

"Understood." Bear said.

He grabbed Ino by the arm and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Hiruzen sat back and mused that he was really too old for this.

A/N: Alright this is the rewritten version of chapter one. Hope it's better than the last one. As always a huge thank you to DustBunnyQueen for betaing this chapter.


	2. Taking care of business

Disclaimer: I own nothing except squad 13

'_Thinking: Internal monologue'_

"Talking"

**Scene Change (Time)**

Chapter 2: Taking Care of Business

**Complex (2 weeks later)**

"No hold the blade in a forward grip." Rikimaru was teaching Naruto how to use a sword it was slow going.

"But Rikimaru-sensei" The blond whined. Holding a sword in the reverse grip was so cool it had to be better than a forward.

"Alright try it your way" The scarred man said. Naruto often learned best through aversion therapy. Rikimaru attacked and using his sword as lever forced Naruto to release his blade and kicked the blond.

"Owww" The whiskered boy said rubbing his stomach.

"Now hold it properly" The bald man said calmly.

"How did you do that?" Naruto had learned that his senseis would answer any question provided it wasn't classified and or something you could figure out yourself given what you knew

"Leverage, when I hit your blade I made it into lever forcing it out of your grip. Won't work on anyone who knows what they're doing but against little punks like you? It works" the bald man said with a small smile. The boy was a sponge when it came to learning how to fight.

"Hai Sensei" The blond said as he got back into his ready stance.

"So how are thing with your class?" The scarred man asked as he began to attack. Forcing Naruto to work on his concentration and breathing was fairly simple make him talk while fighting.

"Alright most of the class doesn't hate me. Hinata-chan is still weird though." The whiskered boy managed to get out as he blocked a series of stabs

"Ever wonder why?" Rikimaru said as he slid to the side as Naruto tried to cleave him in two.

"Just thought it was because she had a health problem" The whiskered boy said with a grimace as he took a punch to his shoulder.

"You're not this dense you know why." Rikimaru didn't let up and kept hitting the blond.

"Rikimaru-sensei even if what you're saying is true we have no chance together. It's crazy to think about it" The blue eyed boy growled as he launched a side kick forcing his sensei back.

"Why do you say that I'm supposed to be the cynical bastard telling you to give up" The scarred man said wryly.

"Hinata-chan is the closest thing this village has to royalty. And I'm the closest thing this village has to a designated whipping boy." Naruto said bitterly.

"So you're going to deny the idea of something ever happening between you and her because of that?" The bald man said a little surprised at Naruto's reaction.

"Unless I'm the descendent of one of the Kage's or something like that Hinata's out of my league. She's probably already in shit for being my friend" The blond said as he went for a leg sweep.

"What ever happened to the happy idiot that we all knew 6 months ago?" Rikimaru said catching the leg and flipping Naruto into the ground.

"You killed him by beating the ever living snot out of me" The whiskered boy said with a smile.

"Oh right good times. Still don't be so down on yourself. She really does care" The scarred man said blocking a vicious groin slice.

"I know Rikimaru-sensei, but I don't want her hurt" Naruto said rolling out of the way of a slash and flipping back up.

"So you're trying to protect her" The bald man said shaking his head as he dodged a punch. Stupid kid always thinks he has to protect everyone.

"You know I was happier when I was an idiot and no one questioned my reasons" The blond pouted as he jumped back from an over head smash.

"No you weren't" The bald man said as he continued his attack.

"I hate dealing with you old geezers always see too much" The whiskered boy whined as he punched his teacher in the chest.

"You'll learn to do the same in time" Rikimaru said with a grunt.

"Yeah, still it's annoying not to be able to hide anything from you guys" The blue eyed boy said as he just barely dodged a round house kick.

"Listen kid if we couldn't tell when an 11 year old kid is lying we'd be pretty sorry excuse for ANBU" The bald man said with a smile as he smacked Naruto's temple with the flat of his blade.

"One question though" Naruto said stumbling from the force of the blow.

"Okay shoot" The short man said settling back into a fighting stance as Naruto regained his balance.

"Why am I first one you guys trained?" The blond asked as he began to attack.

"You'll understand when you're older" Rikimaru said dodging with ease.

"What kind of answer is that?!" The whiskered boy shouted letting loose his emotions.

"It's one that you can understand. And what'd I tell you about losing control of your emotions?" The scarred man said with a snarl as he put Naruto down with a vicious chest blow.

"You say not to. But that doesn't me I can just do it" The blue eyed boy said with a grimace as he sat up.

"Why not? I've taught you how too" the bald man said sheathing his sword.

"The only way I've ever really dealt with my emotions was to either ignore them or let them out. Just holding it all in. That's not something I really know how to do. You taught me assuming I already knew how to control my emotions somewhat." Naruto said sheathing his own sword and shrugging.

"Kami...look you'll have a lot of people telling you to kill your emotions to repress them. That doesn't work humans are inherently emotional beings. But you have to make your emotions work for you not against you" Rikimaru sometimes wondered if Naruto was some sort of case study in how much you could fuck up the human psyche and still have it work.

"Yeah yeah but how?" The whiskered boy asked cracking his neck.

"Are you faster when you're afraid or calm?" The scarred man said. Wondering why he had never taken a student on before it was so much fun seeing their heads light up with knowledge.

"Afraid...but we're ninja we're not supposed to be afraid." The blond answered frowning.

"Who told you that fairy tale? As much as some of us hate it we're still human. Humans will feel fear it's just a simple way of our body saying 'move you dumb fuck'. What ninja's do is use that fear to boost our reactions. We use anger to improve our strength. We use our grief to motivate us. We make emotions tools to better our bodies. Anyone who can do this simply becomes a better opponent then anyone who can't." The bald man said calmly.

"I see...how do I learn to do that?" Naruto asked with a quizzical look.

"Same way you learn everything else I teach" The scarred man said with smile.

"Focus and persistence" The blond answered automatically. Rikimaru firmly believed that the only things you need to learn anything was focus and stubbornness.

"Right over time it will become instinctual to use your emotions but right now we're going to do things the way I learned." The bald man's smile became satanic.

"Shit" Naruto didn't know who had trained his sensei but that man had been a sociopath. Of that Naruto was all too convinced given how his teacher taught the 'old method'.

"Yep now you have to stand still while piss you off. You move and I break a bone" The scarred man said.

**Hokage Tower**

"You wouldn't let me train him bet you let the most blood thirsty cell in history train him?" The maimed leader of ROOT didn't shout it was beneath him but it seemed that way.

"Danzo...shut up" The old kage said his voice betraying nothing other than irritation.

"Hokage-sama you cannot dismiss our concerns so cavalierly" Koharu the lone female in the Hokage's office said.

"Tell me what do you really want? Admittedly the _ex_-members of squad 13 have taken to training a young orphan boy who according to them has limitless potential. I do not see the problem they have been loyal to us since the time of the Shodai." The Sandaime said

"We cannot risk the demon getting out" Homura said fitzing with his glasses. How did Koharu and Danzo keep talking him into situations like this?

"And you think that training the boy will allow that to happen? You are smarter than this Homura" The Hokage said with a mental grimace. By himself Homura was usually reasonable and intelligent but when he was with Koharu and Danzo it seemed to disappear.

"No we're not letting our emotions cloud our judgement" The bitter old woman said.

"I am only going to say this once. Drop the issue. Naruto will be trained properly and since _someone _has decided to make the academy teachers non-liable for his training. I will not see the village hero condemned to an early death because of your short-sightedness" The grandfatherly demeanour dropping from Sarutobi's face.

"We have nothing against the boy but we want to make sure that another Orochimaru isn't being made." The glasses wearing elder said. _Not much chance of that given his psych profile but still..._ Homura thought shaking his head. If only Danzo didn't have that damnable blackmail he could help his old friend rather than hinder him.

"I'll admit I messed up with Orochimaru but Naruto's different. Kami knows how but he has his father's strength and mother's heart. Unless we betray him he will not betray us. Sasuke is more likely in that regard." The bearded kage said.

"Let me take both of them then. Train them and make them loyal to the village" The crippled man said.

"You mean loyal to you. I will not stop those three from teaching Naruto and you won't either Danzo. They know what happened at Diruka at the time your father and the war made it impractical to charge you but that's no longer a consideration is it? You were useful during the war and in memory of what you use to be I have allowed you to live free." Sarutobi said a predatory smile on his features.

"You lie" The master of ROOT said desperately.

"Do I Danzo? Do you really want to play a game of chicken with me? I know all about your shadow games for now they aren't a threat. But as soon as they are your life is forfeit" The Sandaime said subtly reminding them why he was known as the 'God of Shinobi'

"You can't..." Danzo said. This wasn't how it was supposed to go Hiruzen had always been a weak stomached fool before, he was suppose to give in and isolate the demon brat.

"I may be old Danzo but I can still fight you would do well to remember that." The Hokage said as a shadow clone popped into existence and held a kunai to the crippled mans throat.

"Now then is there anything else?" Sarutobi asked as the clone dispersed.

"No lord Hokage" The three answered and bowed as they left.

"Hmmm, time for some Icha Icha I think" The Sandaime said with a perverted grin.

**Academy (5 days later)**

"Hey guys" Naruto called as he sat beside his two best friends.

"Uzumaki" The bug user said.

"N-Naruto-kun" The Hyuuga Heiress stammered out.

"Naruto what the hell is up with your chakra?" Kiba was although not a close friend one of the few who willing talked with Naruto.

"Ehh?" the blond asked confused

"Y-you seem m-more controlled" The timid Hyuuga stuttered.

"Rikimaru-sensei has been teaching me to control my emotions other than that I got nothing" the jinchuruki said with a shrug.

"Indeed." The shade wearing boy said.

"So what are learning today?" Naruto asked with a smirk. Truth was the only reason he went to the academy was to hang out with Hinata, Shino and occasionally Kiba.

"Don't you know demon" One of the still prejudiced members of the class spat.

"Will you shut the hell up? If was a demon I would've massacred this entire village five times over" The blond said with a feral growl

"Ignore them Uzumaki" The Aburame heir said. Why was he always the voice of reason in the group?

"Yeah yeah." The blue eyed boy said reining in his temper. His class had been filled with jeers and laughter before. But the icy hate that he saw in some of their eyes it hurt him more than any beating. _'Why can't people see me and not that damn fox?' _Naruto screamed mentally.

"Dobe" The Uchiha avenger said.

"Yeah teme?" The whiskered boy said not looking at him.

"I want a fight" The black haired boy said.

"No" Naruto said. Six months ago, hell yeah he would've fought but Naruto had slowly absorbed the idea of fighting as a last resort and to kill the dumb fucker that did fight him.

"What do you mean no?" Sasuke asked dumbfounded.

"There's no point to either of us fighting. I'm not sure why your obsessed with getting stronger but I want no part of it." The blond said coldly.

"Scared?" The onyx eyed boy asked with a scathing tone.

"Sasuke if I really wanted to kill, you would be dead by midnight. Leave me alone" The whiskered boy had stopped caring about the Uchiha. _'Rivals, are just people who are too stupid accept others as equal _had been Jin's words when the subject came up.

"How would you kill me?" The avenger asked with a sneer.

"The same way any competent shinobi kills someone. With a knife to the spine before you knew I was there" The blue eyed boy said irritated. Just once he would like to have people respect his ability and not question him just once.

"You don't have the skill to hide from me" The last loyal Uchiha said with a smirk.

"Sasuke I was able to get inside the Inuzuka and ANBU compounds do you really think I can't get into the Uchiha compound?" The blond said incredulous. Sasuke didn't answer and stalked off.

"Was it wise to threaten him like that?" The bug user asked.

"Probably not Shino but he's always pissed me off." The blond said with a scowl.

"W-why N-Naruto-kun?" The shy Hyuuga asked. Naruto didn't really hate anyone a miracle all things considered but it was fairly easy to make him angry.

"I can't really say why. Partially jealously he gets everything handed to him on a silver platter. But mostly it's because of his attitude. Yeah he lost his family and that probably hurts more than I can imagine but he won't deal with that and everyone says it's okay. We shouldn't push him to hard he's gone through such tragedy. Hinata-chan's dealt with shit, I've dealt with shit why does he get special treatment?" The whiskered boy didn't really whine but it sounded like it.

"The reason he get's special treatment? Is simple the Uchiha posses a powerful Kekkai Genkai known as the Sharingan the village does not want to lose it." The shade wearing boy said with some distaste.

"What does the Sharingan do then?" The jinchuruki wondered out loud.

"M-my f-father says that it's a t-thief's bloodline b-but wouldn't s-say anything else." The pale eyed girl stuttered.

"Hinata-chan you've really got to get over that stutter" Naruto said with a half smile.

"S-sorry" The blue haired girl blushed and looked at the ground

"I'm not mad at you Hinata-chan" The whiskered boy said with an exasperated shake of his head. That girl was way to down on herself and Naruto aimed to fix it...somehow he was still working on that.

"H-Hai" Hinata gave a small smile. She knew intellectually that Naruto had the patience of a god when it came to his friends and nothing would make him turn his back on her. Years of emotional abuse said otherwise.

"Alright class today we're learning about the Second Great Shinobi War....." Iruka began his lecture.

"Yippee" the blond muttered sarcastically. He much preferred learning from his other senseis they actually made history interesting, their less the pure views on the participants were always good for laugh. _'Still can't believe that Jin-sensei calls the Nidaime a paranoid bastard' _the blond thought with a chuckle.

Naruto's training continued. Although far from being a master in any respect the boy learned how to live and think. He learned how to disappear into a crowd without thought. How to use and conceal a sword, tactics, strategy and more. However despite his increasing skills he still remained hopeless at making genjutsu.

"It's like trying to build a house of cards when the deck is on fire, it's pretty easy to scatter the deck or break the house but making one? That's just not something Naruto will ever be that good at." Jin had said once when asked about Naruto's skill with genjutsu.

**Hokage tower (1 year since the revelation of the Kyuubi)**

"You can't do this to him. The boy already has too many burdens." Rikimaru said. Of the three members of squad 13 he was by far the closest to their student.

"Have you seen the Uchiha's psyche profile?" The tattooed man asked with a wry smile.

"I have but I feel he can still be saved. However all things considered we must be prepared for the possibility that he won't be" The elderly kage said. Kami he hated this job.

"Perhaps but Sarutobi's right. We cannot allow the Sharigan to exist outside of Konoha" The large man said. Kami he hadn't expected this when he left the complex this morning.

"What about Hatake?" The scarred man asked.

"Kakashi still mourns the deaths of Obito and Minato I doubt he would be able to do the deed" The Sandaime said sadly.

"And Naruto could?" The bald man said with a grimace.

"For better or worse Naruto's internalized the old ANBU motto: The mission first, your comrades second, yourself last. If it comes down to the mission or his own conscience the mission will win." Jin said placing a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"We'll give him the option to take the mission. If and I do mean if he agrees to take the mission you three will train him to fight the Sharingan." Hiruzen regarding his old comrades with a depressing finality

"Hai Hokage-sama" All three said.

"Chizu send Uzumaki in." The Sandaime said.

"Yes Lord Hokage" The secretary answered, concealing some distaste for the blond. Not for the fox but rather the fact that he was rather crude.

"Hey Hokage-jiji, senseis" The blue eyed boy said walking in and flashing one of his rare true smiles.

"Naruto as you know should all go well in six months you will be graduating. Along with the rest of your class" The old kage said with a smile.

"Hell yeah! Hokage-jiji" The whiskered boy shouted enthusiastically.

"Baka" Rikimaru said smacking the boy in the back of the head.

"Sorry sensei" The blue eyed boy said immediately contrite.

"Anyways what do you think of Sasuke Uchiha?" Jin asked.

"Stuck up bastard who refuses to deal with his problems. Possibly obsessive compulsive in regards to killing someone. Never says who" The blond answered automatically.

"Read this" The Sandaime handed over a folder showing the psychological profile of Sasuke Uchiha. The blond looked at the folder and read through it.

"How in the hell is he not in a mental institution?" Naruto asked after finishing the file.

"Because by law I can't suspend anyone from the program unless they prove themselves a danger to themselves or others. Sasuke has not" Sarutobi answered.

"I see well other than giving me proof he's a basket case I don't see the point of showing me this Hokage-jiji" the jinchuruki said after minute.

"You read apart about flight risk correct?" Shin asked.

"Yeah" the blonde answered nodding.

"Simply put we're going to have two pronged approach to maintaining Sasuke's....loyalty" Hiruzen said with a grimace.

"Nani?" The blue eyed boy asked.

"Sasuke needs to build bonds to people in order to make him loyal to the leaf. Hopefully his team-mates and sensei can do that. However there is the possibility they can't. That's where if you choose to can come in." The Hokage said folding his hands together.

"You want me to kill Sasuke if he goes rouge is that it?" The blond asked sarcastically.

"Essentially yes. Ordinarily we would entrust this to his jonin sensei. However forces have conspired to place Sasuke with the one jonin who cannot kill him." Sarutobi said his face hard only his eyes showing immense sadness.

"Why not?" Naruto asked nonplussed.

"It's a personal matter but suffice to say it involves old debts." The Hokage said waving off the issue.

"So why me?" The jinchuruki asked. Honestly Naruto wasn't sure whether to take the mission or not, true he disliked Sasuke but he didn't want him dead. _'Could I really kill him?' _the boy wondered.

"You're the only one who we can realistically place on the team without causing undue suspicion. If it helps consider it an infiltration exercise." Shin said with a shrug.

"I see is there really no other way? Naruto if you don't want to you don't have to." The scarred taijutsu user said.

"We can task this mission to the jonin sensei but...." The elderly kage trailed off. The conclusion plain to see if, Sasuke went rouge odds were that the teacher wouldn't be able to bring himself to kill.

"I understand Hokage-jiji. I don't like it but I'll do it." Naruto said with a grimace after several minutes thought.

"Very well then your senseis are going to spend the next 6 months teaching you to fight the Sharingan. Given that this will be more intense than anything you've done. I have given them permission to teach you a technique that will allow you to be in two places at once" The Hokage said. Knowing that even with all the training Naruto had done he still had trouble making a simple bunshin.

"What's that?" The blond said with small grin. A new jutsu was a new jutsu and thus awesome by definition.

"Kage no Bunshin Jutsu, it makes physical clones out of chakra" The tattooed man said with a predatory grin. One could make Naruto do virtually anything if it involved new jutsus or ramen.

"Kickass!" The whiskered boy said with a much larger grin.

"Yes it is. Once you have the Kage no Bunshin jutsu mastered you'll use it to go to school and work your ass into the ground." The glasses wearing man said with a laugh.

"This is going to hurt isn't it?" Naruto said with a sigh. The look on his sensei's faces they all gave the impression of impending doom.

"Yep" Shin said.

**Training with Shin**

"More focus Naruto. You still use to many hand signs. And stop vocalizing the jutsu" Shin said smacking his student in the head as for the umpteenth time Naruto overloaded a jutsu

"Hai sensei." The blond scowled wishing he was his clone right now.

"The Sharingan is a fairly cheap ass bloodline all things considered. It can see through and copy any jutsu. Rumour has it that the final level allows for an unbreakable genjutsu and black fire. But like all things the Sharingan has a few flaws and it's only as good as its user" The tattooed man said rubbing his chin mockingly.

"So beyond the problems all doh-jutsus have what is the Sharingan's flaw?" The blue eyed boy said curious. All doh-jutsus had the same problem they needed the eyes to be intact and undamaged to work. But most doh-jutsu's had unique the flaws for example the byakugan had a small blind spot.

"Simply put it saps growth. When you train to the brink and work hard your body naturally adapts and becomes stronger for the experience this in turn leads to you having the ability to do things that a Sharigan user can't. This flaw isn't advertised. Also poorly trained or arrogant users tend to copy and use jutsus without thinking about the chakra cost." The old man said playing with his hair.

"So my body and chakra can be trained to do things they can't" The blond said thoughtfully.

"Correct in particular if you reduce the number of hand signs and stop saying your jutsu you'll get an advantage." The tattooed man said.

"Why?" Naruto asked he had a few ideas but wanted to be sure.

"Simple, when doing a jutsu for the first time you have to use all the hand signs to make your chakra flow properly the Sharigan copies these signs and allows for duplication. However if they lack the signs and have to guess which jutsu you're using..." The gray haired man trailed off allowing the boy to draw his own conclusions.

"They'll mess up and the jutsu will backfire" The whiskered boy said with a smile.

"Right this becomes even more so once you start learning elemental techniques" Shin said with a laugh.

"You said I can't learn those till I become a genin" The blond said pouting.

"True but I'm giving you a heads up" The tattooed man said with a shrug.

And so Naruto although not learning any advanced jutsus besides the kage bunshin became a master of performing jutsus without words. As well as reducing the number of hand signs. True he didn't know anything beyond c-rank but those he did know he mastered.

**Training with Rikimaru**

"Faster dammit, you're not going to catch anyone with that." The scarred man said dodging a hook kick and replying with a wicked hammer strike.

"Hai sensei" The blond said grunting as he took the hit.

"Naruto you're faster than this why are you holding back?" Rikimaru said

"I'm....not sure" The whiskered boy grimaced as he settled into a fighting stance.

"Explain" The bald man said it wasn't a question.

"I don't know I think I'm going all out but looking back I can see myself holding back." Naruto said after a moment of thinking.

"Interesting" The scarred man said with a faraway look on his face.

"You have an idea Rikimaru-sensei?" The blond asked.

"Could be that your subconsciously trying to hold back the fox in turn that leads you to holding back some of your abilities." The bald man said cracking his knuckles.

"How do I overcome that?" The blue eyed boy asked.

"By putting your life on the line..." Rikimaru said as he attacked the boy.

"Ahh crap" The whiskered boy said as he desperately tried to dodge.

"Listen the Sharingan makes it very difficult to catch your opponent off guard. I know you prefer fighting offensively but sometimes the best offence is a good defence." Rikimaru said after finishing his tormenting of Naruto.

"Nani?" The blond said with a frown. Rikimaru had always favoured offense over defence before.

"One of you will always attack. Given Sasuke's temperament if you don't he will. If you can learn to react faster than he can act you'll have the advantage. Under normal circumstances this is impossible but one can train the muscles to do so even if the mind cannot." The scarred man said watching his student.

"How?" The Jinchuruki asked.

"You'll notice that up till now we haven't been using any weight training ever wonder why?" the bald man asked.

"Not really I assumed you had a good reason" The blue eyed boy said with a shrug.

"Well weights will make you faster over the long run. But it isn't very often that you'll get a chance to take them off and once you do you're stuck on one speed. So I don't like using them" the older man explained calmly.

"Okay but what does that have to do with training me to react faster?" The blond said with a frown. Yes being able to move faster would be good but that didn't explain how one could speed up reaction times.

"That is the normal method people use to defeat the Sharingan. We won't be doing that instead we are going to train your reaction times to be faster to the point that you can react faster than most people can act. To do this we're going to use a combination of chakra and training." The scarred man said with a smile at the boy's face.

"Chakra?" The blond said confused.

"Chakra under normal circumstances is used to strengthen the body and increase one's endurance. However if you either have shit load of it or very fine control you can use to give your body super human strength or speed, most choose to use strength as moving at high speeds is normally harmful to the human body. You however can bounce back from virtually anything that doesn't kill you outright so we'll be teaching you how to move fast." The bald man said his smile becoming predatory.

"Teach me the way of speed Rikimaru-sensei" Naruto said bowing low.

**Training with Jin**

"I assume the chuckle bro's are teaching you how to fight an Uchiha or anyone for that matter. Me? I'm going to teach you how to break out of any genjutsu and how to think. Everyone assumes it's about fancy jutsus and overpowered super techniques. It's not the greatest weapon anyone possesses it their own mind. At higher levels fights it stops being about power but rather control and planning." Jin said sagely as he set up a shogi board.

"So how am I going to learn that?" The blond asked with a bit of fear of all of them Jin by far was the most sadistic.

"Simple we are going to play shogi and other strategy games while I use a genjutsu to set you on fire." The huge man said calmly.

"Isn't that a little extreme Jin-sensei?" Naruto shouted frantically.

"If you can still play shogi while thinking you're on fire you be able damn well handle anything a genjutsu user throws at you." Jin said shaking his head. He had been through this it wasn't that bad.

"But...... I don't want to be set on fire." The blond said pouting.

"Listen Naruto pain is the body's way of saying 'do something you bastard your getting hurt' it also helps us to know if we're still alive. But if you can control and work past it then nothing anyone can do, will be able to stop you. Now let's get to it the faster you win the sooner I'll take off the genjutsu" The dark haired man said as he set up the gen jutsu.

"H-Hai sensei" The blond said fighting back a scream. It hurts being set on fire even if it wasn't real.

"Let's begin" Jin said as he made the first move.

**Academy (6 months later)**

"Man am I glad to see this place again" Naruto said with a smile. His outfit had again changed. He now wore a black long sleeve shirt and slacks with a burnt orange vest. He was currently sitting with the future team 8.

"What are you talking about N-Naruto kun?" The Hyuuga heiress had mostly gotten over her stuttering. Only doing so when stressed or saying Naruto's name.

"Err... just glad to see it for one last time that's all I had fun with you guys" The blond said rubbing the back of his head. _'Actually I'm gladder that they've stopped torturing me. I don't think I could have taken much more of that'_ he thought to himself

"Indeed Uzumaki care to tell me why you weren't here for the last 6 months? The bug user had realized that the Naruto's they had seen weren't real a while ago but hadn't met the real one till now.

"Sorry guys I was training with my senseis. I'm not allowed to say anything more than that." Naruto said with a sheepish look.

"I see" The shade wearing boy said.

"Well what teams do you think we'll be on?" Asked the dog user. He too was curious but knew that everyone had secrets and Naruto had more than most.

"Well you three are all suited for recon/rescue teams so will be together. Me? I'll probably get stuck with the Uchiha and some fan girl" The blond said with a grimace

"What that's just stupid. You and Sasuke don't get along putting you on the same team is like retarded right Akamaru?" Kiba asked his partner.

"Yip" The dog agreed whole heartedly.

"Where else would I go? The Ino-Shika-Cho trio will be reformed. My grades are better but still not anything to write home about. Besides people want me to be placed near an Uchiha so that if get out of control I can be taken care of." The whiskered boy said with a grimace

"There is more to this than you say Uzumaki" The bug user said with a monotone.

"Shino I told you to call me Naruto" The jinchuruki said with a shake of your head.

"Indeed you did but calling you fish paste doesn't appeal to me" Shino answered.

"It means maelstrom dammit!" The blond said in mock anger.

"Of course it does Uzumaki" The stoic boy answered. The two had played this game many times before.

"You just did that to annoy me didn't you?" The blue eyed boy said with a sigh.

"Why would I do that? Just because you are prone to emotional outbursts doesn't mean I intentionally provoke them." The bug user said. Internally smirking, it was too much fun to provoke people he could see why Naruto did it. Still he had a reputation to keep.

"Shino-kun, N-Naruto-kun stop it." The blue haired girl said she hated seeing her friends argue.

"Sorry Hinata-chan" Both said. The unspoken rule among the boys was that hurting Hinata was bad thing and those who did so had to apologize or face the other's wrath.

"Team 7: Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke" Iruka said. Ignoring the groan from Naruto and squeal from Sakura

"Called it" The blond said with a small smile

"Team 8: Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino" the scarred teacher continued.

"It appears you were right Naruto" The shade wearing boy said.

"Too bad, well I guess I should go see if I can't make peace with my team" The blue eyed boy said and stood up to move and sit with the other members of his team.

"Good luck N-Naruto-kun" The Hyuuga heiress said with a blush.

"Yeah we're here for you if you need some friends" The feral boy said with a grin.

"Thanks that means a lot. Shino try to keep these two out of trouble ehh?" The jinchuruki said as he left the group.

"Why would he say that to you and not me?" The dog user whined.

"Simple he trusts my logic" The bug user said.

"Hey guys" Naruto said.

"Shut up you bastard" The pink haired girl snapped. The two did not get along. Although Sakura didn't hate him for the Kyuubi she hated him for pissing off Sasuke.

"Calm down Sakura, yeah you hate me but let's at least try to work together" the blond held up his hands apologetically.

"Sasuke-kun doesn't need your help" The green eyed girl said fiercely.

"That isn't what I meant." The jinchuruki said holding back a sigh. Why had he agreed to this mission again? Oh yeah because someone had to.

"Huh?" The girl said blinking.

"Look even if Sasuke doesn't need my help we're still a team. Konoha always prides itself on team work so we should be able to work together." The blue eyed boy said with a shrug.

"I'm impressed loser that actually sounded intelligent" Sasuke said using his patented smirk.

"Whatever. Looks like we have a long time to wait" The blond said ignoring the insult.

"Why?" Sakura asked. True she didn't like Naruto but she was intelligent enough to see that he had a point.

"Heard Sasuke was getting some guy named Kakashi, supposedly really strong but he's always late." The whiskered boy said.

"Naruto where's your sword?" Sasuke asked. Itachi used a sword, he should use a sword but no one would teach him to use a sword dammit. Maybe he could ask the dobe?

"That? It's in here. "The blond answered rolling up a sleeve and tapping a seal.

"So someone put a seal on you?" the pink haired genin said.

"Yeah my senseis don't have much use for seals but they know how to use them. Not to the extent that Jiraiya and the Fourth could but enough to make this." The blue eyed boy said with a smile. The three then sat back and waited. And waited and waited some more until.

"Fuck it! If he shows up tell him I'm going to go train at training ground 8" Naruto shouted and shushined away.

"When did Naruto learn to teleport?" a confused Sakura asked

"I don't know but the dobe has some explaining to do." The brooding Uchiha answered.

"Hello team 7?" A one eyed man said poking his head into the classroom.

"You're late!" The pink haired genin shouted.

"Sorry but I found a baby newt and had to go take care of it." The silver haired man said with an eye smile.

"Liar!" Sakura screamed.

"Ummm where is your teammate?" The masked jonin asked looking around and seeing one missing.

"He got pissed off waiting for you and went to go train at training ground eight" The black haired Uchiha said. Slightly annoyed that he hadn't thought of doing that.

"And you didn't stop him because?" The silver haired jonin was already preparing his you suck speech

"He teleported" The lone female explained.

"What do you mean he teleported?' Kakashi asked with a frown.

"The dobe knows how to shunshin" The black haired Uchiha answered with a shrug.

"Alright lets all go to the training ground then to retrieve your team mate" The perverted jonin said and shushined away

"We have got to learn how to do that" Sakura said speaking for both of them. Sasuke only grunted

**Training ground 8**

"Alright guys...come at me with everything you have" Naruto said to his assorted clones.

"Right Boss!" The clones answered. What followed next was somewhere between a dance and a slaughter as Naruto defeated each if his clones like clockwork.

"That's rather impressive. I assume you're the final member of team 7?" The silver haired jonin said having seen the boy take down his clones with a disturbing efficiency.

"I am, I take it your our chronically late sensei?" The whiskered boy answered mentally dispersing the rest of the clones.

"Ehh who told you that?" Kakashi asked _'Kids today no respect for their elders, is this how Jiraiya felt when Minato-sensei told him off? If it is I understand his pain' _the man thought.

"Anyone who listens finds out two things about you. One you are always late and two you enjoy reading perverted books. Most believe it's because you can't get any" The whiskered boy said with a shrug.

"What? I can get some whenever I want" The masked jonin said scowling although you couldn't tell.

"Hey I'm just telling you what I heard." The blond suppressed a mental smirk. Shin-sensei was right call another man's sexual prowess into question and they will lose all composure.

"And who told you that?" The one eyed man asked. Wondering who he had to get rid of.

"Can't say really I heard it from a lot of people." The blue eyed boy was laughing his head off internally.

"Really...." Kakashi responded a bit sad. He couldn't beat up everyone the Hokage wouldn't like that.

"Hey guys." The blond said as the remaining members of team seven arrived.

"Dobe teach us how to shunshin" The dark haired avenger demanded.

"That will be Kakashi-sensei's job" The blue eyed boy said with a smirk.

"Alright let's get to know each other. Blondie you go first tell us your name, likes, dislikes and dreams." The masked jonin said forestalling any attempted murders on Sasuke's part.

"Names Naruto Uzumaki, I like training, my friends and ramen. I dislike stuck up bastards, people who judge others for things they can't control and people who hurt my friends. Don't really have a dream anymore" answered the jinchuruki. _'Didn't he use to want to be Hokage? What made him lose his dream?' _the rest of the team wondered.

"Okay pinkie you're next" Kakashi said pointing at the girl. Who glared at him for calling her pinkie.

"My name is Sakura Haruno I like---, *blushes and stares at Sasuke* I dislike Naruto and Ino-pig. My dream for the future--*blushes even harder and continues to stare at Sasuke*" The girl answered.

"Okay you fail at life. Moving on broody you're up" The silver haired jonin said ignoring the girl's screech that she didn't fail at life.

"I don't have any likes and I dislike most things. I have no dream but I do have an ambition to kill a certain man and restore my clan." The black eyed boy said. Pointedly ignoring Sakura's fan girl gaze.

"Alright in the interest of fairness my name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes and dislikes are classified and my dreams are...not for kid's ears. Originally I was going to wait till tomorrow to do this but we can do it today." The silver haired jonin said.

"What's that?" a curious Sakura asked.

"The real genin test. The academy test only shows your potential to be a ninja passing gives you a chance but all the jonin sensei's give tests to determine if the teams are really ready to be ninja" The blond answered.

"Correct Naruto I guess the Hokage gave you a heads up." The masked jonin was mentally frowning. Naruto seemed to know too much. It didn't fit with what his academy profile said.

"No the old man didn't say squat but you'll be amazed at the information you can get at a bar" The blue eyed boy said smiling.

"Naruto you idiot, you're too young for a bar" Sakura said and made to smack the boy who dodged.

"I know I am. I henged to get in. I just wanted some info about the exams and found out a fair bit." Naruto said shaking his head. Why did his team have to be the dysfunctional one?

"I see I suppose I should congratulate you on your foresight. Alright I have two bells whoever doesn't get a bell will be sent back to the academy." The one eyed jonin said seriously.

"How long do we have?" asked the last Uchiha.

"You have until the sun goes down. Start" Kakashi said and the three disappeared. _'For genin Sakura and Sasuke are doing pretty good at hiding themselves, but where the hell is Naruto. It's like he disappeared'_ The ex-ANBU frowned to not be able to sense a genin of all things. That didn't bode well.

"From what I hear this test isn't about our ability to fight but teamwork right?" Naruto popped up out of nowhere.

"And who told you that?" The masked jonin asked. While wondering why the hell he couldn't sense Naruto's arrival. It was the fatal flaw of the Shunshin there was always a slight disturbance of chakra where you landed. And any competent ninja could detect the disturbance.

"You're a jonin we've got a fan girl, a semi psychopathic avenger, and the guy who barely passed. No way to win....but sill let's see what you got don't want a weak sensei now" The blond said taking out his sword and attacking.

"You're not bad." The silver haired man had been forced to put his book away and was dodging adroitly. _'He's holding back a lot....if he went all out I would have to use the Sharingan. What the hell is the academy teaching these kids?'_ He realized.

"I could say the same to you...now if you'll excuse I have to go get broody and pinkie to help me get a bell" The blue eyed boy said and again disappeared.

"Guhh can't use that speed style too much...my body hasn't adapted to it yet." The blond grimaced as he reappeared.

"Naruto weren't you fighting Kakashi-sensei?" The pink haired girl said surprised as Naruto appeared out of thin air.

"I was but he's out of our league he was toying with me" The whiskered boy said with a frown.

"Well you never were a very good ninja" The green eyed genin said with disdain.

"Whatever, let's try to work together to take him down" The blond said ignoring the insult.

"I'm not abandoning Sasuke-kun" Sakura said fiercely.

"I never asked you to" The jinchuruki said with distaste.

"But if we both get bells then what happens to Sasuke?" The pink haired genin asked warily.

"This is an all or nothing sort of thing either we all pass or we all fail that's how it works. I've never heard of a two man team have you?" Naruto asked.

"What do you know?" The girl growled at being out thought by the class dobe.

"Just trust me" The blond said.

"Alright do you have a plan?" Sakura said after considering everything. Worst comes to worst Sasuke could always beat Naruto and take his bell after all.

"I think so let's try this...." The blue eyed boy said conspiratorially.

"Well Sasuke I'll admit your different but you're not any better than the other two" The porn reading jonin said.

"Don't compare me to those weaklings" The dark haired prodigy said angry. He was an Uchiha dammit he should not be underground.

"Weaklings, is that what you call them? No they aren't well Sakura is but that's more or less your fault. Naruto is probably your level if not higher." Kakashi shook his head. Sasuke needed a lot of work but for Obitio he would try to salvage the last loyal Uchiha.

"That's impossible" The last Uchiha scowled, there was no way the dobe was better than him.

"Impossible or not he's done it speaking of which I have to go" The silver haired man said as he turned into a log as kunai impaled him.

"Alright let's get you out of the ground. Sakura I leave him in your capable hands" The blue eyed boy said running off.

"What the hell are you two up to?" The onyx boy said irate that a fan girl and the dobe had driven off the man.

"Naruto idiotic though he is has pointed out that none of individually can take on a jonin. He wants us to work together I figure we help him get the bells then steal his" The pink haired girl answered.

"Might work I assume you two have a plan?" The Last Uchiha said swallowing his pride.

"Yep here's what we have planned" The green eyed girl said with a smile.

"You do know that the others will probably betray you for the bells right?" Kakashi asked as he dodged another swipe of Naruto's blade.

"Ohh probably but there are no two man genin teams it's always three. So I'm good either way" The blond answered dodging Kakashi's counter by the barest of margins.

"You're willing to work with a team that would betray you for the mission?" The one eyed jonin asked slightly stunned.

"It's my Nindo: Mission first, your comrades second, yourself last." The blue eyed boy made a vertical slash only to have it blocked by a kunai.

"So hypothetically if your team mates were trapped behind enemy lines and you had to either save them or complete the mission what would you do?" Kakashi asked slightly freaked that Naruto had apparently started to follow the old ANBU code. _'How in the hell does he know about the code? It's not even on the books. Naruto you have become an unknown element I don't like unknowns'_ the ex ANBU thought.

"Both" The blond answered flippantly

"That wasn't an option" The jonin sweat dropped. _'Just like sensei...scary'_

"I don't believe in no-win scenarios" The blue eyed boy said jumping back from their deadlock.

"It happens" The gray haired man said throwing three kunai only to have Naruto kawarimi away.

"Yeah I'll believe it when I see it" Naruto's voice came from several directions.

"What? How do you know the voice projection technique?" The masked jonin was slowly starting to curse himself for trusting academy evaluations.

"I trained under people who remember what a ninja really is" the blond answered.

"Ohh what is a real ninja then?" The one eyed jonin said trying to find the boy as he had disappeared again.

"A shadow" Naruto said as he tried to stab Kakashi in the back only to be met with a log.

"You fight in an entirely different manner than anyone your age should" Kakashi had finally gotten the drop on the boy and held a kunai to his throat.

"Like I said, I was trained by some of the best. We win Kakashi" The jinchuruki said with a smirk.

"Huh?" The jonin said as he was held down by two clones it wasn't much but he knew the real Naruto would escape if he didn't deal with them.

"Now get the bells!" The blue eyed boy called. His teammates responded and both stole a bell just as Kakashi flared his chakra to dispel the clones.

"Well looks like I underestimated you guys but as it stand's only Naruto will go back to the academy" The masked jonin said trying to give them the last push to figure out what the test was all about.

"Yeah take that you bastard" Sakura cheered point at Naruto who resealed his sword.

"You two will be dropped from the program" The jonin continued causing shocked silence from both of them.

"What? Why?" Sasuke managed to regain his senses first.

"Teamwork I guess. You guys let me do everything instead of fighting with me as a team" the blond said shrugging.

"Naruto is correct neither of you for a moment really thought about Naruto in fact both of you were planning on betraying him to get the bells and send him back. Add in the fact that both of you really don't have the right mentality to be a ninja and you'll understand why I don't want you in the program" The one eyed jonin said with a grimace. He wanted to help Sasuke he did but Obito's lesson had to come first.

"No we don't Kakashi-sensei we got the bells we did what you told us to so why aren't we fit to be ninja aren't we good enough?" the pink haired girl whined.

"Kakashi-sensei can I take a shot at explaining it?" The blue eyed boy asked... Not really knowing what he was going to say but feeling he should say something.

"Alright" The silver haired man said wondering what his last student was going to say.

"YOU BOTH SUCK AT LIFE AND AT BEING HUMAN! Sasuke all you care about is killing someone and power. Power is useless if you lack control. And Sasuke all anyone needs to do to make you dance like a puppet is say 'I'll tell you how to kill that man. Or that man is here'. Revenge is a fool's game and by playing it you're just doing what that man wants. Yeah you lost your entire family but come on it's been 4 years either deal with it or get your ass in therapy. You have a huge weakness one that anyone who knows you well or history can exploit. To make it worse you're willing to sell out your own team in order to get stronger" The blond spat.

"You can't say that to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura the ever loyal fan girl shouted.

"Sakura you care more about your looks and winning Sasuke as he was some prize than you do about training. When was the last time you seriously trained? Never? You're good a bookwork which counts for shit in the field. Book work ain't going to tell you how to survive when you're trapped behind enemy lines and out chakra. You have no real skills and can barely perform the basic three. Seriously when you get that first C-rank I pity you if you get stuck by yourself because the enemy will have a field day with you---" Naruto was cut off.

"That's enough Naruto" The masked man said. Today was just full of surprises Naruto was useful, intelligent and apparently willing to tell people off.

"Rikimaru-sensei said worse to me when I was training" The jinchuruki said with a grunt.

"Who?" the jonin asked he didn't know any Rikimaru's and he knew every strong ninja in Konoha.

"Not important. Besides I'm right aren't I? ... No I went too far" The blond said looking at the shell shocked duo.

"You were right Naruto but I don't think anyone has ever called them out like that before. Still you guys did get the bells so I have to pass you. But try not to send your teammates into emotional shock anymore okay?" The ex-ANBU hadn't seen something like this since that time Sarutobi had caught him and sensei drunk during the treaty negotiations with Suna.

"Hai Sensei" The whiskered boy said an apologetic look on his face.

"I'll snap them out of it but you probably shouldn't be here." Kakashi said.

"Alright I want to see how team 8 did anyway" The jinchuruki nodded and shushined away.

"Let's see how did Tsunade-sama wake up sensei when Kushina said yes to him taking her on a date? Oh that's right" The ex-ANBU said nodding to himself. Kakashi reached back and gave the mother of all bitch slaps to Sasuke and Sakura.

"What? What happened? I could've sworn the dobe called us out" Sasuke said being the first to recover.

"He did and although he was a little harsh about it he was right in what he said." The masked jonin said

"....." The silence from both parties showed what they thought of that.

"I don't think Naruto knows how to be subtle in social situations so don't blame him too much." Kakashi said trying to form some peace on the team.

"He didn't have the right to say that to me." The Last Uchiha said with anger.

"Yes it was tactless but you're all genin and equals. I don't think Naruto gives a damn about which clan you are or who your parent's were just what you can do." The silver haired man sighed. Why did everything have to be so complicated with Naruto?

"He will never be my equal" The black haired prodigy said still angry.

"Perhaps not but not for the reasons you think." The masked jonin said. _'I actually think Naruto's surpassed you but telling you that wouldn't be a good idea' _the man thought irked that his Intel had been so faulty.

"I'm going to train" the brooding boy said and left. Sakura for a moment looked like she was going to follow but abruptly stopped.

"Kakashi-sensei was Naruto right am I really that weak?" She asked fighting back tears.

"To be honest he was but that's not to say that you can't get better but you're going to have to work hard and overcome your obsession with Sasuke he needs a friend more than anything." Kakashi wanted to comfort the girl but really had no idea how...he was a ninja not a therapist dammit.

"I have to think on this" The pink haired girl left the training ground leaving the porn reading jonin alone.

"Crap I forgot to tell them where and when to meet tomorrow. Wait who am I talking to?" The silver haired man said after a few minutes. Shrugging the man made his way to the Hokage Tower to make his report.

A/N: Well that's done this chapter was a bitch to write and I'm still not happy with it. Sorry about the mistakes with grammar and syntax. Still looking for a beta though. Random question what pairing do you want for this fic? I'm curious. Next: Sakura matures, Naruto learns that not everything ninja's do is about a fighting and Kakashi loses hope for the future.


	3. Everyday

Chapter 3: Every Day

Disclaimer: I own nothing except squad 13 and they scare me. Naruto on the other hand belongs to Kishimoto.

'_Internal monologue_

**Scene change (time)**

Sakura had walked in a daze after Naruto's brutal chewing out and Kakashi's less than stellar attempt at comfort. Out of habit she walked into her old class room.

"Sakura what are you doing here?" The scarred chuunin asked in surprise.

"Iruka-sensei!" The pink haired girl gave a start.

"Yeah it's me I do work here after all" Iruka said chuckling.

"Sorry sensei I was just lost in my thoughts." The new genin said with a nervous smile.

"Oh? Trouble on the team already?" the teacher asked.

"Yes we passed the test and everything but Naruto...Naruto tore into me and Sasuke-kun. He said I was weak and that he pitied me." The green eyed girl said with a frown.

"Huh...well Naruto's never been what we call subtle. Did he say why?" Iruka asked quietly.

"He did and as much as I want to say he was wrong I can't!" The pink haired girl said angrily.

"Why is that?" the scarred man asked eyebrow raised.

"He told me that I relied too much on bookwork and never physically trained." The red clad girl said quietly.

"Sounds about right. I've been pushing for more physical requirements for years but the headmaster wants numbers rather than quality" The teacher said after a moment.

"So you agree with Naruto." Sakura had hoped her former teacher would make her feel better but it wasn't happening.

"Mostly, intelligence is never a bad thing but it can't be the only thing Sakura. You like the rest of your team mates have immense potential. But you haven't made any effort to unlock it." The chuunin said with a shrug.

"So how do I do that? How do I get stronger?" the pink haired girl asked. She didn't want to be weak and she didn't want to be only seen as a burden. Maybe then Sasuke would like her.

"Through blood, sweat and tears. By pushing yourself to the limit every day and little by little raising that limit." Iruka answered with a smile.

"Oh..." Sakura had expected something like that. But if she truly did that it would mean no more pursuit of Sasuke.

"There is no easy path to being strong. It requires sacrifice and work. Are you willing to do that Sakura?" The chuunin asked seriously.

That was what it all came down to didn't it? Was she willing to abandon her long time crush/obsession/true love in order to get stronger? Sakura didn't know. Part of her said yes that she had to be stronger. Sasuke had been the no. 1 rookie and Naruto apparently had become a god damn machine when it came to fighting. She couldn't be the only weak member of the team could she? While another part said that she would never win Sasuke if she abandoned him now.

"I don't know..." the pink haired girl said finally.

"Well if you decide go to this address it's were Naruto trains usually. Maybe his senseis can help you." Iruka wrote something down on a piece of paper. Sakura took it and made her way home.

"Sweetie how was your day?" Her mother asked.

"Alright mom" Sakura said in that tone all teens have when it is not alright but they don't want to talk about it.

"Soooo who's on your team?" The older woman tacitly acknowledged that her daughter was unhappy. And tried to find out why.

"Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Kakashi Hatake." The pink haired genin said quietly.

"Well two out of three isn't bad. You stay away from that Uzumaki boy you hear me." The hate from the elder Haruno was palpable.

"Mom Naruto may be an asshole but he isn't some demon." The green eyed girl frowned. Naruto had been ignored and hated all his life and he had become strong despite that how?

"That little monster should never have been allowed to be a ninja!" The older woman spat venomously.

"Why? Naruto's the reason we passed. I may not like him much but I will admit he knows what he's doing." Sakura found herself in the odd position of defending her team mate.

"So the bastards just waiting for his chance then." The other Haruno said darkly.

"Ummm not really all he really wants to do is train and hang out with his friends." The green eyed girl said thinking back to Naruto's introduction. It had been perfectly...normal all things considered.

"That demon should be dead!" Sakura's mom said yelling.

"That 'demon' is my team mate!" The green eyed girl retorted raising her own volume to match. Briefly Sakura wondered why she was defending the blond but dismissed it quickly.

"You don't know what he really is...." The older woman said grimacing.

"I do I was told never to speak of it. I was there when he found out the entire class was. We saw him break down. Naruto is an asshole but he is not a demon." Sakura said her own temper reaching its peak. Naruto had to deal with this everyday of his life? No wonder he acted like that.

"How can you say that? He killed all those people!" The older Haruno demanded.

"He wasn't even born yet!" The green eyed girl shot back.

"The baby died the moment the fox was sealed inside him." The older woman said hatefully.

"I'm going out!" Sakura decided to leave before she did something she'd regret.

Sakura despite her near obsession with Sasuke was an intelligent girl. As Shino had said logic dictated that Naruto wasn't the demon. A demon would have already burned Konoha to the ground. Jin's story came back to her '_Demons are intelligent but all they know how to do is destroy...'_ Naruto knew more than that. More than once she had seen him build up his few friends. Hell he had even managed to coax Hinata out of her shell. She decided to go find him and A) give her a piece of her mind for earlier and B) Ask for help.

**Complex**

"Too slow!" Rikimaru said cutting Naruto's arm with a kunai. It was light cut but it sizzled for a moment.

"Owww. Who the hell decided to put acid on the kunai?" The blond demanded angrily.

"I think Shin got bored again. My bad." The scarred man said with nervous smile.

"Why am I always the target?" the genin whined.

"Because me and Jin can kick his ass and he knows it." The bald man answered.

"So I have to learn how to kick his ass and then he'll stop?" The whiskered boy mused.

"No he'll just make it so you can't prove it was him." Rikimaru said with a chuckle.

"Super" The blond said. Slowly but surely he was learning the fine art of sarcasm from his senseis.

"So how's the team?" The older man asked as they began to fight again.

"We've got our work cut out for us. Kakashi is as expected, Sasuke is even worse but Sakura might come around." Naruto said throwing an axe kick.

"Still have that crush I see..." The scarred man said pushing aside the kick with his own.

"Hell no, she's a whiny bitch but she's a smart one. As long as Sasuke isn't involved she can use her head after a fashion." The blond said angrily lashing out with a series of punches. With Rikimaru blocked with one hand.

"Kid someone here to see you." Shin called from the front.

"Thanks Shin-sensei and I will get you back for that damn kunai." The blue eyed boy bowed and made his way to the door.

"You said the same thing last week about the shuriken." The tattooed man said with a laugh.

"Wait for it." The blond said with an evil grin

"Oh Shin... do you know why my book collection is covered in paint?" Jin asked from the upper floor.

"Bastard...Oh kami not the face not the face!" The gray haired man said squirming as Jin's genjutsu took effect.

"What's up with him?" Sakura asked disturbed.

"Jin-sensei is...protective of his books. And a master of genjutsu." The blond said calmly as if it was an everyday occurrence for a man to be rolling on the floor screaming.

"Oh..." The pink haired girl said vaguely wondering what the hell was up with these guys.

"So you here to tell me off Sakura?" the whiskered boy asked.

"I was how'd you know?" Sakura asked blinking. That was exactly what she was here for but how had he known that.

"Well even though I can't say I was wrong. I admit I went too far today." The blond shrugs.

"Why did you say those things then?" the bookworm asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Because...I didn't know how else to say it. Both you and Sasuke have things to work on before your really ninjas. I never learned subtlety outside of combat and so I just said it." The blue eyed boy answers with another shrug.

"Oh..." Now she was thrown for a loop. She had expected to have Naruto to be an asshole but here he was if not apologizing at least admitting his faults.

"Shin get off the floor." A glasses wearing man said coming up behind Naruto.

"But it hurts...." the gray haired man whimpered.

"Get off it or I'll tell Naruto where you keep the acids." The black haired man said calmly.

"Fine" Shin said and stood up and wandered off muttering darkly.

"Hello Jin-san" the pink haired genin said bowing low.

"Hello you look familiar" The large man said curiously.

"I was there when you told us about Shukaku" Sakura answered.

"Ahh, Naruto bring her in and treat her like a guest" Jin said.

"Yes Jin-sensei" The blond obeyed and brought them all to a sort of living room. After sitting Sakura and Jin down the blond made his way to the kitchen.

"So you guys teach him?" Sakura said making conversation.

"Yep...he's our student. Although Rikimaru treats him like a son." The black haired man said with a smile.

"So he's learned how to act from you?" the pink haired girl asked. If so it would explain a bit.

"Mostly..." the glasses wearing man said with a shrug.

"Jin-sensei we're out of tea." Naruto called from the kitchen.

"Top shelf" The older man shouted back.

"Hai" the blond said and went to work.

"So what can I do for you?" Jin asked.

"I actually wanted to talk to Naruto." The bookworm admitted.

"That's odd most people his age don't talk to him." The black haired man said with faint distaste.

"He's my team mate" the pink haired girl said with a shrug. The two fell silent for a time.

"I guess Naruto ran off his mouth again didn't he?" the genjutsu user asked finally.

"How....?" Sakura said surprised.

"Naruto doesn't know the meaning of tact when talking. To be fair neither do we. So I kind of expected someone to come and call him out on it." The glasses wearing man said with a faint smirk.

"Well he pretty much called me weak and worthless as a ninja!" The red clad girl shouted.

"I did because by my standards you are" Naruto said returning with a platter of cookies and tea.

"How can you say that?" The pink haired girl demanded.

"Because Sakura Hinata's little sister could kick your ass. I want you to be strong...the rest of us won't always be there to protect you." The whiskered boy said as he poured tea.

"I never asked for your protection." Sakura said angrily.

"No but you want Sasuke's don't you? You want him to save you like some sort of prince out of the stories. The real world doesn't work like that." The blond said with a sigh offering both Jin and Sakura some tea.

"What do you know about the world?" the green eyed girl said with a mutter.

"Sakura...How could I not know? I was kicked out of the orphanage when I was four I spent a year on the streets until the Hokage found me and gave me a home. My first memory is being told that I was a monster. I have seen the darkness in humanity. I have seen the light as well. I don't want you hurt like that." The blue eyed boy said with an amazed then sad expression.

"I didn't know..." for Sakura it was an eye opener. Sasuke had a tragic past but...Naruto's seemed nearly as bad and yet Naruto still seemed to be warm in his own way.

"Don't worry about other people have had it worse I'm sure. There were a few who cared and that was enough." The whiskered boy waved off the comment.

"So you said all those things to protect me?" the pink haired girl said incredulously.

"Sort of I want you to become strong so that you can keep yourself safe. You're a comrade it's my job to help you out." The jinchuruki said with a faint smirk.

"Huh?" Sakura blinked. Naruto was loyal to his friends she knew that but hadn't thought he considered his comrades friends.

"There was an unwritten code in the ANBU before it was reformed during the third war. The mission first, your comrades second, yourself last." Jin said quietly.

"I follow that code Sakura-san" the blond said just as quiet.

"Why?" the girl asked.

"Because it's the one my senseis follow. They were the first people to actually train me. You know I learned how to read properly from Jin-sensei? How to cook from Shin-sensei? Carpentry from Rikimaru-sensei? Sappy as it sounds my senseis are family to me." Naruto answered.

"I'm that aloof uncle, Shin's the crazy one and Riki he's somewhere between a father and grandfather." The huge man said

"Well that explains a lot." The pink haired girl said thoughtfully. Truthfully Naruto had always seemed like an idiot but in the last two years his intelligence had seemed to leap frog.

"Well that was a nice speech. What now girl?" Jin asked.

"I want to get stronger. I don't want anyone to call me weak ever again!" The green eyed genin said fiercely.

"Okay then Naruto you know her best where should she start?" The black haired man asked.

"Right now she's a bookworm meaning her tai jutsu is academy level at best. Her chakra reserves are again fairly low all things considered. This is balanced by a better control than average even for kuinoichi. Taijutsu and chakra building to start later she'll have to figure out her own role." The whiskered boy answered with a faraway look.

"Role?" the girl asked.

"Given what Naruto's told me about your team you have the makings of a frontline combat team. The ones who go into the thick of it and come out the other side covered in someone else's blood. Naruto here has more or less been trained as a close combat specialist. So he gets up close and kills the other bastard with a sword or kunai. Sasuke is probably a mid range combat specialist relying on jutsus to kill the other guy." Jin said after taking a sip of tea.

"So what am I?" the green haired girl asked out loud.

"Naruto said you were good at book work so... either a combat medic like Tsunade was or maybe a genjutsu specialist like me. Either would work but it depends on your temperament." The glasses wearing man answered. Naruto grunted in annoyance.

"What Jin-sensei means is that to be really good a genjutsu you have to be able to understand people fairly quickly without deluding yourself. Medics on the other hand need some empathy but not too much that it paralyzes them when they kill." The blond clarified Jin loved giving these impromptu 'figure out what the hell I really mean' quizzes.

"Very good." The older man said smiling.

"You never give a straight answer Jin-sensei." The whiskered boy said sighing.

"Will you guys teach me?" Sakura asked. The other two looked at each other before they burst out laughing

"No, no, no, no just no. Bad idea" Jin said after a few minutes and wiped a tear from his eye.

"What's so funny?" the pink haired girl said getting angry.

"If there's one thing we learned from training Naruto here is that unless you have a healing factor or a good medic on site we should have nothing to do with anyone's training. Unless they're already jonin level" the huge man said shaking his head.

"It couldn't have been that bad." The green eyed girl insisted.

"Sakura Jin-sensei used a genjutsu so I thought I was on fire..." Naruto said incredulous.

"Oh..." the girl wasn't sure what to say to that. What did you say to that?

"Yeah you don't want to be trained by them. I'll still help you though" the blond said after a moment

"Come on the fire wasn't that bad." The older man said with smile.

"Says you..." the whiskered boy said darkly.

"I didn't add the electrocution to it right?" the glasses wearing man asked.

"Only because you needed me conscious for school the next day!" The blue eyed boy shot back.

"We could do it now?" Jin said menacingly

"No that's fine sensei. See you tomorrow sensei!" Naruto bowed and took off.

"Sooner or later he's going to realize that I can't put those two together. Oh well." The older man smiled.

"That seemed a little cruel." The pink haired girl commented watching Naruto run in fear.

"Nahh... the kids got a pain threshold like you wouldn't believe. He bitches about it but he can handle it." The black haired man said with a shake of his head.

"How?" Sakura asked perplexed. She had been wondering how her team mate dealt with the hate.

"Naruto doesn't know how to quit and perhaps more importantly he's learned to be like water." The older man said with a faint smile.

"How can a human like water?" the pink haired genin asked nonplussed.

"Water is shapeless it adapts to anything while still being water. Humans can do the same but is difficult it requires the strength to accept things that you don't like while still doing everything possible to make things better." Jin answered with a faraway look.

"....." the green eyed girl didn't know what to think.

"You go home now and think about what you want to do." The genjutsu user said and scooted the girl out.

It was dark now and Sakura wasn't familiar with this part of Konoha and predictably got lost. Hours later she had regained her bearings but saw something unfamiliar Naruto sitting with a dog. The boy was idly scratching the dog's head. The dog itself was mutt by any description with patchy brown and black fur

"I don't know if I can do this Gobi." The boy said looking up at the sky. Communication between the two passed without words.

"What do you mean I'm being a chicken?" the blond said annoyed. Gobi just looked at him.

"Your right. It's just I wanted my team to be a little like my senseis are. They're all friends and they can trust each other with anything." Naruto said after a moment. The mongrel gave a low whine.

"Well maybe Kakashi but he'd choose Sasuke over me same goes for Sakura. And Sasuke I just don't know probably not." The jinchuruki said in response. Sakura was hurt but couldn't disagree. She would choose Sasuke over him but that he thought it was normal and expected that was painful.

"Yeah just because I don't need anyone doesn't I don't want someone." The blond continued oblivious. Lost mostly in his thoughts. Paranoia had taken a back seat to just figuring things out.

"Yeah I have team 8 but how often am I going to see them?" He said after a moment. The dog yipped.

"That isn't an answer at all" the blond retorted. Gobi whined again

"No Gobi no more dango for you." Naruto said shaking his head. Gobi gave a look that said 'you serious?'

"Why am I even talking to you about this?" the whiskered boy said with a groan. Gobi gave a bark.

"Yeah that's probably it. Damn pride" The blond said after a moment.

"No the mission comes first. I can't let myself get too attached the Old Man's counting on me." The blue eyed boy replied to an unasked question.

"Naruto?" Sakura decided now to break into the conversation.

"Sakura what are you doing here?" the jinchuruki gave a start.

"I got lost this your dog?" the pink haired girl said walking up to Gobi who gave her a sniff.

"This is Gobi he's a stray I took in. Manager doesn't really give a damn as long as the rent paid." The whiskered boy said giving his dog a scratch behind the ears.

"Naruto I heard you talking." The bookworm said after a moment.

"How much?" the blond asked quietly. There was a reason he talked to Gobi after dark because he was alone then and didn't worry about people showing up. It was a form of therapy for him.

"Most of it...why don't you talk to your teachers about this?" The green eyed girl asked softly, Today had been a roller coaster of emotions. Joy, then anger then fear, then compassion and now empathy.

"They don't need to know. I mean even I don't know what I'm talking about." Naruto said with a shrug.

"You seemed pretty coherent besides talking to a dog" the girl said with faint sarcasm.

"Gobi's a good sounding board aren't you boy?" The blue eyed boy said giving said dog a belly rub.

"He's affectionate where did you find him?" The pink haired girl asked taking in the scene.

"Found the mutt going through the trash. He's kind of like me so I took him in. Almost killed him because I didn't know how to look after him" Naruto said after a moment with a frown.

"So despite you trying to distract me what were you saying earlier? About team 7?" the bookworm persisted.

"Never mind. Come on I'll escort you to the academy. Should be able to get home from there." Naruto stood up and began walking Sakura followed along with Gobi.

"Hey Naruto?" the pink haired genin asked after a few minutes walking.

"Yeah?" the blue eyed boy replied.

"How do you deal with it? All the hate and loneliness?" The green eyed girl asked.

"I've never known anything else. I have people who care about me and that's enough for me. No use bitching about it." The blond answered not breaking his stride.

"That's it?" the bookworm said incredulous there had to be more that.

"Pretty much. I could be all angsty and shit, give the teme a run for his money as lord of the brood. But what's the point? if I do that they win. I'm too damn stubborn to let anyone else win." The whiskered boy said with a shrug.

"You know I always thought you were an ass." Sakura said in response.

"I am but only to those who piss me off." The whiskered boy agreed.

"Why did you snap that day anyway?" the green eyed girl asked referring to the day two years ago when he had pulled a kunai on her.

"To be honest I don't know. Something just snapped I wasn't willing to take the bullshit anymore." The blond answered with a frown.

"Should we start over?" the bookworm asked.

"You mean pretend the past never happened?" Naruto said after a moment.

"Yeah" the pink haired girl didn't know why she was doing this but felt....that he deserved an honest chance.

"I'm willing to try if you are." The jinchuruki said after a moment.

"Hello I'm Sakura Haruno" Sakura said extending her hand.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki." The blond said and shook her hand. The shake was over quickly and they kept walking.

"Here we are. Be careful now. This part of town ain't too bad but I'm not sure about wherever you live." Naruto said as they arrived at the academy.

"I live in a good area thank you very much." The bookworm retorted.

"I thought the same thing when I was younger. See you around." The jinchuruki said and turned around. Gobi following him.

'_What the hell does that mean?'_ Sakura wondered as she made her way home.

**Hokage Tower **

"So Kakashi they going to fail?" Asuma asked jokingly. All of the team instructors were present to give preliminary thoughts.

"Actually they passed already..." the silver haired jonin answered.

"No seriously" the bearded jonin said with a laugh.

"I was being serious." The one eyed man said with a sigh. Most of the jonin there had the obvious WTF look on their faces. Kakashi never passed a team ever.

"I see you have finally embraced the ways of youth! My eternal rival soon you shall be overflowing with the springtime of youth!" Gai on the other hand began to rant about youth.

"Did you say something Gai?" The masked man asked.

"Curse you Kakashi!" Gai began another rant on cool and hip rivals.

"So they already passed how did they pull that off?" The cigarette smoking jonin asked.

"Naruto played cat and mouse with me until he was able to catch me off guard with some shadow clones and the other two stole a bell. And then Naruto called them out on well everything really." The silver haired man said with a sigh. They all knew what he wanted and he did want to help Sasuke so he passed them but the dynamics were going to be a bitch.

"What do you mean called them out?" Genma asked laconically.

"Basically he tore through their pride like tissue paper. Pointed out their flaws all of them. I think he would've ranted for a good hour if I hadn't stopped him." The masked jonin answered.

"Was he wrong?" Asuma asked...wondering what would have happened with his team if someone had done that.

"Far from it but the others didn't take it so well." The silver haired man said shrugging.

"Meaning...?" Kurenai prompted.

"Sasuke seems to believe that Naruto is still the class dobe and as such completely wrong. Sakura just seemed lost." The masked man said with a sigh. All he wanted to do was his job and read porn but now he couldn't do that.

"Will the team work Kakashi?" The Hokage interjected for the first time.

"I think so, it's going to be hard but if Naruto can at least be civil it should work." Kakashi answered.

"Odd he seemed so nice to my team." The genjutsu mistress frowned.

"What do you mean Kurenai?" The leader of team 10 asked.

"Just that he found us and acted like a nice guy but from what Kakashi says he has mean streak. Especially if he just verbally assaults people." The raven haired jonin frowned. She felt that words should be used to build people up not tear them down.

"Naruto. Is nice but he doesn't have any tact can't blame him really." The Sandaime said quietly. The other jonins looked down at that. It was a good point you can't blame someone for not being taught.

"On to other questions Hokage-sama what the hell have they been teaching Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"What do you mean?" the old kage had innocent expression that was out of place for him.

"He knows the shunshin without hand seals, kage bunshin and someone taught him how to force." The silver haired man said calmly. Forcing was the use of chakra to achieve superhuman speeds. Doing so for long periods of time broke down the joints and muscles so it was rarely used but it was powerful.

"You're kidding..." the bearded jonin said after a moment.

"Nope the kid fights like a shadow. Always disappearing at the right moment and reappearing right before he strikes." The silver haired man said with a frown. It was similar to a group he had fought with in the war but who? They were old timers but had been able to kick his ass anyway. It had been embarrassing.

"Naruto has been learning from some retired jonin. The academy wasn't helping him so he found his own tutors. Now are you all aware that his class knows the truth?" The Sandaime asked.

"No...how did that happen?" The assembled jonin were surprised and frankly a little pissed. Who had violated the Law?

"Ino Yamanaka apparently in attempt to impress Sasuke stole the truth from a teachers mind. She has her mental abilities sealed until she makes chuunin." The Hokage explained.

"So that's what that choker was for..." Asuma mused. Ino Yamanaka had taken to wearing a choker for no apparent reason but to cover a seal it made sense.

"Indeed. However only that class knows and it is forbidden to talk about it." The Sandaime said firmly.

"Well my team looks good." The genjutsu mistress said after a moment.

"I'll see tomorrow but they should pass old man." The former fire guardian said with a smile.

"my team will probably fail..." another jonin began and the talks continued for some time.

Later as they cleared out the Sandaime called Kakashi over to him.

"Now what are you true thoughts on the subject of Naruto?" Sarutobi asked firmly.

"I don't trust Naruto to him comrades are secondary to the mission. Obito didn't die for that." The masked man said with scowl.

"Indeed but comrades are more important to him than survival. The mission is important I can't fault his reasoning really." The old kage began to light his pipe

"No one's comrades always come first" Kakashi said wincing at the memory of Obito.

"When you have bonds with them yes. The number of people that Naruto actually feels connected to is 10 people in a village of thousands. His senseis not including you. Me, the people at Ichikaru and three genins. Even you were never so isolated Kakashi. If you want him to put his team mates before the mission you better damn well convince him that they'll do the same." The Sandaime said annoyed.

"What do you mean?" Kakashi could count on one hand when the Hokage had actually sounded annoyed.

"Rightly or wrongly Naruto believes that he has no place on your team. That all of you won't care about his survival. And when it came down to it he would be the first to die so that the rest of you can live" Sarutobi explained.

"That's not true I might not like him but I wouldn't just sacrifice him." The silver haired man defended himself.

"Wouldn't you? Can you honestly say if it was choice between Obitio's remaining family and the boy containing the Kyuubi that you wouldn't choose the former?" The Hokage asked quietly.

"He's not the demon sensei was better than that." Kakashi had no answer but tried to evade the question.

"Indeed he was but you didn't answer the question." The old kage said firmly.

"..." The silver haired man couldn't answer. If it came down to Sasuke or Naruto he would choose Sasuke and that...explained a lot really.

"Naruto has been taught by some of the best ninja's I've ever known. He knows that you would choose Sasuke over him. He knows the same is true of his other teammate. He also knows that if and I do mean if Sasuke goes rouge then he will be the one to stop him. All of it you want him to put others before the mission? Then make him believe that you wouldn't do the same." The Hokage gave a long drag on his pipe to calm himself.

"What?" Kakashi was dumbfounded. Naruto not only believed that his own team would betray him but expected it? Kakashi couldn't quite fathom the mindset required to work with someone and expect betrayal being present in a twelve year old boy.

"Naruto has been taught to at the very least see people objectively without emotion. He also knows that you have some connection to the Uchiha. And thus figures that if something went wrong he'd have to fix it." Sarutobi answered.

"Sasuke would never go rouge" the silver haired man insisted firmly.

"I hope not but if it happens it happens" The Sandaime was unconvinced.

"Is there anything else Hokage-sama?" The masked jonin asked formally.

"Yes don't blame Naruto for being the way he is and don't let your past cloud your present." The Hokage said quietly.

"Hai." The copy ninja said and shushined away.

"Because if you do Kakashi you will lose everything. Naruto and squad 13 were never ones for half measures." Sarutobi mused as he puffed his pipe.

**Training ground (next morning)**

The genins from team seven had found themselves awakened by their sensei fairly early and told where to meet and when. That had been several hours ago. Sakura and Sasuke were bored Naruto was just standing still like a statue.

"Dobe what are you doing?" The last Uchiha asked his...enemy didn't quite fit but something like that.

"I am trying to improve my chakra detection. Please be quiet" The blond said eyes closed.

"How?" Sasuke was always eager to learn something new.

"Chakra is present in everything that lives. By learning to read individual chakra signatures one can be more aware of their surroundings. Even the best ninja's always leave a trace if one listens one can hear it. Now shut up I need to concentrate." The whiskered boy growled.

"Dobe you can't talk to me like...ooff!" The raven haired boy suddenly found himself face first into the ground. How he had no idea but he remembered a blur.

"I'll talk to you any way I damn well please. You are not my superior and I will not treat you like some kind of prince." Naruto said resuming his former position.

"Naruto....." Sakura scolded.

"My apologies Sakura-san I let my temper get the better of me." The blond was trying to at least be neutral to his female teammate and as such was willing to admit when he messed up.

"Shouldn't you apologize to Sasuke-kun?" The green eyed girl said caustically.

"I would if I thought it would help." The whiskered boy said flippantly.

"Baka!" the pink haired genin shouted.

"Hey he started it!" Naruto said defensively.

"No he didn't" the bookworm said with a glare.

"I asked nicely you heard me." The blond pointed out.

"There was no need to do that." The green eyed girl retorted.

"Alright I'll give you that it felt good though." The whiskered boy said with a smirk.

"So now you're a bully?" Sakura asked with sarcasm.

"Come on Sakura, Sasuke always acts so 'superior' to us isn't it nice to see him knocked down for once?" the jinchuruki asked.

"That's because he is superior baka!" the green eyed girl shouted.

"Why?" Naruto asked seriously.

"Why what?" the bookworm was nonplussed.

"Why is he superior to us? And don't say because he's an Uchiha. That's not a good enough reason. Just because he got lucky being born into a family doesn't mean he's worth anything himself." The blond answered.

"Dobe the Uchiha's are the greatest!" Said Uchiha shouted. No one disrespected the Uchiha name no one.

"Last I checked one was a psychopath the other a genin and the rest dead." The blond replied in the same tone that Rikimaru used when confronted by an idiot.

"Why you!" The dark haired prodigy shook with a rage and was almost ready to kill the blond.

"Settled down all of you Naruto apologize" Kakashi shouted arriving on the scene.

"Sorry Sasuke" The whiskered boy said and then muttered "That your an emo bitch" Sakura heard and gave him a look. The blond caught it and looked contrite.

"Alright we'll do a nice d-rank and then do teamwork exercises" the masked jonin said firmly.

"This is going to suck so badly...." Naruto said with a groan.

"Why do you say that Naruto?" the silver haired man asked.

"You know why." The whiskered boy said with acidic tone.

"No why?" the one eyed jonin said with an eye twinkle.

"Because d-rank missions are just chores!" Naruto accused

"They are very important for building team work and perseverance" the masked man said adopting a sage tone to forestall any more questions

"Bull shit...team work comes from facing something or having a common goal not pulling weeds or stuff like that." The blond said cynically.

"Let's just go to the tower." Kakashi said. Why oh why did his team have to be so difficult?

The mission was in an ironic twist pulling weeds and although there was grumbling it was done quickly.

Teamwork exercises were simple. Give the genin some task to complete and make it so that they couldn't do it alone. Naruto had suggested a plan and although a bit simplistic it would work. Except for one thing Sasuke Uchiha. The plan had called for the Uchiha to serve as a distraction while Naruto and Sakura did the work.

"Why the hell should I let you do the job?" Sasuke demanded. The job being a theoretical infiltration mission to grab some important documents

"Because Sakura and I know the place better than you do because of the recon we did that's why." The blond answered. Kakashi had established that previously.

"Just because you think you're better than me...." the prodigy said before his team mate cut him off.

"I don't I gave you the most difficult part." Naruto said irritated.

"Naruto, Sasuke-kun stop!" the pink haired girl said with a bit of desperation

"What did I do?" the whiskered boy asked confused.

"...." Sakura wasn't sure how to answer that. Naruto's plan was a classic but it wasn't flawed he hadn't done anything she could object to. Naruto had divided up the jobs the way any normal genin would have.

"Dobe I'll do the grab you be the distraction." The last Uchiha demanded.

Now let's be fair to Sasuke. Having spent his life either being ignored for his brother or adored for being the 'last Uchiha'. He had literally no idea how to deal with someone who was equal to him in skill if not social standing. And having very rarely if ever heard the word 'no' for the last four years meant that he was operating on instinct. Uchiha's aren't known for the instinct they are known for thinking ahead.

"You don't know the place well enough. I'm better at infiltration than you are so I should go Sakura's my back up if things get hairy." The whiskered boy said suppressing a sigh

"Then leave Sakura behind she's worthless anyway." Sasuke said not really caring.

"She's weak true but I trust her more than I trust you" the blond said annoyed. It was one thing to think badly of someone people do it all the time. But most have the sense and tact not to do it in front of the person they dislike.

"Sasuke-kun...." Sakura was hurt by that. It was getting harder and harder to justify the way Sasuke acted toward her.

"Why would you ever want a pathetic fan girl?" The Uchiha asked.

"I don't. But I see more potential in her than that." Naruto said shrugging.

"Pfff" The prodigy dismissed that idea scornfully.

"Alright that's enough" Kakashi said deciding to intervene before someone decided to start killing things.

"Alright Kakashi-sensei later" the whiskered boy said and shushined away

"Sasuke-kun...do you want to train?" Sakura asked quietly. Her assumptions that being on the same team as Sasuke would make him more amenable to being with her were being crushed one by one.

"The dobe might see potential in you but I don't. I won't train with weaklings." The dark eyed boy replied.

In another world Naruto being a happy idiot decided to disguise himself as Sasuke for a brief time in order to get close to Sakura. Sakura having been desperate for any form of affection with her crush had accepted Naruto's masquerade without question. Said masquerade had Naruto subtly confess his feelings for the girl until his body like all male bodies at the age do betrayed him forcing Naruto to leave. Sakura than used that brief display of affection to ruthlessly quash any thoughts that Sasuke was anything less than perfect. That hadn't happened in this world.

'_Why is he always so cold? I worked so hard to be the smartest and this is the thanks I get?' _ The girl wondered

**Drop his emo-ass!** Inner Sakura never a paragon of restraint at the best of times had her own view point on things.

"Sasuke-kun...do you hate me?" Sakura asked quietly.

"No I don't. Would you hate a mosquito? No you'd just find them annoying it's the same here. I save my hate for someone else." The dark haired boy explained as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Is that all I am to you an annoyance?" Sakura demanded her picture perfect worldview had been shattered yesterday. And Sasuke seemed determined to crush the pieces.

"You're a fan girl what else would you be?" the prodigy asked with faint amazement.

At this the camel's back broke. The one two punch of Naruto's rant and Sasuke's apathy had utterly destroyed her view of the world. _'No more...I will become strong not for Sasuke but for myself!'_ For the first time in a long time the two Sakura's had the same goal. Become stronger.

"Go to hell Sasuke!" Sakura screamed at her former crush and stormed off.

"Sasuke why did you say those things to her?" the jonin asked

"I was just being honest." The prodigy said with a shrug.

"You do realize that this is a team right? And that means we have to get along?" the silver haired man asked with a sigh.

"We passed that damned bell test." The Uchiha retorted a little annoyed.

"Only because of Naruto." Kakashi interjected

"Fehh if I had been trained like he had I'd be a lot better. Stupid old man said I didn't need it" The prodigy was categorically incapable of admitting that anyone his age was better than him.

"Oh? Who trained him?" The silver haired man had been trying to figure that out since yesterday.

"Some guys named Jin, Rikimaru and Shin." Sasuke thought it was common knowledge that Naruto had been trained by some old timers.

"Jin as in Jin Azuma?" The masked man asked quietly

"Yeah...."

"I see. Sasuke I would heavily recommend apologizing to Sakura tomorrow but I will not force you. Just remember that your team is the only thing you can count on in the field." Kakashi said with a hidden frown.

"I don't need anybody" the avenger said coldly.

"Just like him then?" The silver haired man asked and shushined away.

If there was one sure fire method to piss of Sasuke Uchiha comparing him to his brother was it.

"I am nothing like him!" He screamed to the heavens. Or maybe it was to the random birds flying around.

**Hokage Tower**

"Afternoon Kakashi what can I do for you?" The Hokage said calmly looking up from his paperwork. Usually he had one of his shadow clones do it but he made sure to do the A and S class things himself nothing beats the original after all.

"Just when were you planning to tell me that one of my students was being trained by the most bloodthirsty ANBU squads in history?" Kakashi deadpanned.

"Hmm...Let me think about that" Sarutobi said taking out his pipe. "Not until he made chuunin or whenever he told you"

"With all due respect Hokage-sama, what the hell were you thinking?" the silver haired man demanded.

"Why is that whenever someone says with all due respect they immediately question my abilities? To answer your question I was thinking that it'd be a good idea to have Naruto as a competent Shinobi." The Hokage said with a chuckle.

"But those guys are--- Sarutobi held up a hand cutting off the jonin.

"Yes they have a history of blood but let's look at that history for a moment. They were the ones who helped us win the second war. They were the ones who helped keep the long peace between the first and second wars. And you know what they did during the third war right?" the old kage asked chidingly.

"Yes but although they never failed a mission the causalities rates were obscene!" Kakashi insisted. And to be fair they were...as a general rule no mission that squad 13 had gone out on had less than 10 kills and the kill count of the entire team surpassed Orochimaru's and Yondaime's combined.

"Yes they were Kakashi and do you know why?" Sarutobi asked with the tone of a long suffering teacher with a particularly stupid student.

"No Hokage-sama"

"Konoha didn't start out as the premier world power that it is. Rather it was just one among many, right now we have a reputation as a soft and forgiving village compared to others. But we carved our way to the top in blood Kakashi and people like squad 13 just happened to be the ones to do it." The old man continued on as if Kakashi hadn't said anything.

"Still allowing them to teach a kid...." the masked jonin said quietly.

"Did they do badly?" Sarutobi asked with a raised eyebrow

"No Naruto's probably mid-chuunin without forcing with forcing he's just scary. Give him some real attack jutsus he could probably be a one man army." Kakashi mused.

"So what's the problem?" The Hokage asked.

"..." Indeed what was the problem? Naruto was probably a borderline sociopath but that was the thing borderline. With the right teaching and bonding Naruto could become a paragon of good or a monster to make Orochimaru scared. It all depended on how he was taught.

"Now a more important question is what about your other two students?" Sarutobi continued when Kakashi didn't answer.

"Sasuke has the potential to go far but lacks the right mindset. Naruto's actions make it hard to get through to him. Sakura is a recovering fan girl so isn't useful yet but given the right training should become elite." The masked jonin said after a moment.

"I see well make sure to train them all equally. Oh and Kakashi?" The Hokage said quietly.

"Yes Hokage-sama?" The silver haired man's danger sense was going haywire but he didn't know why.

"If you ever question me again about my decisions I'll show you why I am the God of Shinobi. Am I clear? As it stands I am banning you from buying the next issue of Icha-Icha" Killing intent filled the room.

"Hai Hokage-sama" the masked man said contrite. And to avoid more chewing out left. While his inner self sobbed at the lost of the next Icha-Icha book.

"I really need a drink...oh well back to the grind." The Sandaime said and began reading paperwork. Honestly Hashirama seemed to have had a hidden fetish for paperwork. That was the only reason to explain why there was so much of it. That or he enjoyed messing with people long after his death.

**Complex**

"Naruto are you here?" Sakura called out. It had taken forever to find this place again but she did it.

"No he isn't girl what do you want?" A rough voice called from the gloom.

"Err just to talk with him sir" the bookworm said quietly.

"Don't call me sir I'm just one more retired ninja. Names Rikimaru Gohda" The scarred man said walking into the light.

"Hello Gohda-san" Sakura said nervously.

"Hmmm so you're the brat's team mate? Don't look like much but ehh Tsunade didn't either when she started out." The bald man said after a long look.

"You're saying that Tsunade-sama the legendary medic was like me starting out?" the pink haired girl said eyes wide.

"What? hell no for one thing she actually trained. I'm just saying that she didn't look like much compared to her team mates. The snake bastard was a prodigy and Jiraiya had the look." Rikimaru said with a chuckle.

"The look?" The pink haired girl said with an eyebrow raised.

"Can't explain it better than that but some people you just know they are going to be one of those legends for good or evil." The scarred man answered.

"Oh...can you tell me where Naruto is?" Sakura said after a moment.

"I can but I don't see why." The bald man said cracking his neck.

"I want him to help me get stronger." The girl said fiercely.

"Why?" he asked.

"Huh?" Sakura said confused.

"Why do you want to get stronger?" the scarred man asked with sarcasm.

"...Because I don't want to be called weak ever again." Said sarcasm went over Sakura's head.

"Heh you really are pathetic" Rikimaru said with a scowl.

"Hey you don't even know me!" the pink haired girl retorted.

"Power for its own sake is pointless. Without control you become nothing more than a mindless tool." The scarred man's scowl deepened.

"I am not mindless." Sakura said defensively

"Sure you're not." The older man dismissed her easily.

"I had the highest grades in the class"

"Girl simply being able to remember things isn't intelligence just a useful skill. Intelligence is the ability to adapt and use information." Rikimaru said with a low chuckle.

"Are you going to help me or just keep insulting me?" Inner Sakura never the most restrained being had fought her way into temporary control.

"Well you are the brat's team mate so probably not." The scarred man said suppressing a laugh.

"Rikimaru-sensei please stop trying to drive my team mate into a nervous breakdown" Naruto said walking in to the room.

"Ahh good your here now back to work!" Rikimaru didn't deny the accusation but instead changed the subject.

"Hai sensei" the blond said and summoned a gang of clones and proceeded to begin tearing them apart with taijutsu while they used cloned swords.

"He really is strong" Sakura commented as the blonde killed another doppelganger.

"He is but don't tell him that." The scarred man said quietly.

"Should he be proud of his accomplishments?" To Sakura it was simple you got strong and then you can tell people where to shove it.

"Nope. We are ninja not god damn samurai despite the younger generations seeming inability to recognize that." Rikimaru said with a grimace.

"Huh?"

"Pride is the most dangerous thing for a ninja to have. Pride has killed more ninjas than anything else. Pride blinds us to some very simple facts. We are not immortal, we are not invincible eventually we will die. Pride is the reason I got these scars, that and taking on a knife fighter with a broken arm." The older man said gesturing to his arm.

"Alright can I talk to Naruto after he's done?" Sakura asked unsure how to respond to Rikimaru's cynical statement.

"Sure"

It was a half hour before Naruto took a break.

"What's up Sakura?" the blond asked cracking his neck.

"I'm done with Sasuke" Sakura declared firmly.

"That's a surprise...kind of thought it would take him betraying the village to let that happen." The jinchuruki said quirking an eyebrow.

"I wasn't that bad" The green eyed girl said with a frown.

"Sakura you use to beat the crap out of me for talking to you. Because I got in the way of 'Sasuke-kun'. Yeah you were not as bad as some but pretty out there" Naruto replied with a wry smile.

"Well I'm sorry alright?" the pink haired girl said with a sigh. Looking back on it she had been kind of a bitch to him.

"Ehh don't worry about it I was an idiot back then" the whiskered boy waved off the apology.

"How can you be so causal about things?" Sakura asked with genuine confusion. For her part she couldn't understand Naruto's cavalier attitude.

"Well I'm pretty much immune to being emo by now. Bitching isn't going to fix it so I figure why bother?" The blond explained.

"Is that why you act like a jackass toward Sasuke?" the bookworm asked quietly.

"Pretty much. Don't get me wrong he has had it rough I won't deny that. But his whole avenger shtick isn't cool it's just annoying and creepy. If anyone has reason to get revenge it's jinchuruki's like me. And if I can forgive and move on so should he" the whiskered boy said his face frowning.

"It's not that simple." Sakura automatically defended her former crush.

"I thought you were over him?" the blond said with a wry chuckle.

"I am but I'm so used to defending him. Arrgh!" The girl said in frustration.

"There there let it all out." Naruto said soothingly.

Sakura wasn't sure why but that caused some sort of internal dam to break. The one that had held up against her mounting depression over Sasuke and loss of any real friends. It had cracked yesterday and now it was gone. Tears stung her eyes but didn't fall. Instead in a trembling voice she asked.

"Why? Naruto why is he so cold?"

"I don't know but if I had to guess it's fear and how he's been raised" If Naruto had noticed her state he gave no sign of it but merely looked away.

"Fear?" the girl asked quietly as she struggled to regain control.

"Sasuke lost his entire family right? Somewhere in the back of his mind he's afraid that it will happen again if he gets closer to someone. Kami knows I've had that nightmare often enough." The blonde's grim smile at that went unnoticed.

"Huh?"

"I spent a lot of years completely alone. I have people now but I always remember what it used to be like. Sasuke is similar he had a family and they were the world to him and then he lost them. He just doesn't want to lose anyone." Naruto continued.

"So that's why he acts that way?" Sakura asked with a sniffle.

"That or he's a colossal jackass either or really." The whiskered boy said with a shrug drawing a chuckle from Sakura.

"You know every time you get philosophical you always ruin it" She said with a faint smile. She still felt bad but her mood had lightened considerably

"Ehh I've never been one for introspection although according to Jin-sensei I am master of confusing the hell out of people." The blond said with a chuckle

"That's not exactly something to be proud of..." the bookworm said shaking her head.

"Seriously though what do you want? Rikimaru-sensei will only be thrown off by Shin-sensei for so long." Naruto asked reminding Sakura why she was here in the first place.

"Can you help me train? Just for a little while?" she asked.

"Sure meet me an hour before Kakashi's says to and we'll get some training in." The blond answered.

"Thank you Naruto" Sakura said with a genuine smile and took off.

"Playing with two girls are we?" Shin asked running into the room.

"Dammit Shin-sensei!" The whiskered boy said throwing a set of kunai at his teacher.

"That's not nice" the tattooed man said pouting.

"Shin!" Rikimaru shouted from across the complex.

"Gotta go bye!" the gray haired man said disappearing.

"He never learns." Naruto said with a sigh.

"Back to work!" Rikimaru said as he ran through the room looking for who had stolen his special coffee.

Naruto nodded and began trying to improve his chakra speed limit beyond its original five minute limit.

A/N: and that is a wrap...sorry about taking so long with this chapter I have no excuse. Unfortunately I have no idea where my beta went so this is probably going to have some mistakes. I humbly apologize. Next: Sakura and Naruto to train, Sasuke gets his ass kicked and squad 13 begin to investigate some things.


	4. Where have the heroes gone?

Disclaimer: All I own is squad 13 and the ideas I have. Naruto belongs to a Japanese guy who can draw named Kishimoto

**Scene Change**

'_Internal monologue'_

Chapter 4: Where have the heroes gone?

**Training Ground**

"Good you're here" Naruto said leaping down from a tree.

"I'm not one to back down Naruto" Sakura said with determination.

"True you are rather stubborn" the blond said with a smirk.

"Baka!" the ex-fan girl said attempting to punch the boy.

"Calm down, that's no way to treat your sensei." The jinchuruki said with a chuckle.

"I'm not calling you sensei" The pink haired girl still had some pride after all.

"Well I can't really make you now can I?" the blue eyed boy said with some amusement.

"Nope" Sakura said with a grin.

"Alright the most important thing for a shinobi to be aware of is his or her weaknesses and strengths. So Sakura what do you think is your greatest strength?" The blond said grinning in reply.

"My book learning" The girl answered with a grimace.

"And weakness?"

"My body"

"Good an old saying goes that if you know yourself and your enemy you need not fear a 1000 battles. Honest self critique without any excuses is the only way for a ninja to figure out how to improve." Naruto said with a mature voice.

"So how do I improve?"

"Well your body is just barely passing the standards at this point. We'll have to work on that until it's up to par. As a side effect this should increase your chakra levels a fair bit. Now do you diet?" Naruto asked firmly

"Well I have to watch my figure"The pink haired girl answered as if it was obvious.

"Why?" the jinchuruki asked staring intently at her.

"Because Sasuke-kun…oh" Apparently being a fan girl isn't something you can quit cold turkey.

"You have no idea how much you fan girls hurt yourselves and others with that diet bullshit. Being a ninja especially an active one requires a lot of calories you don't get fat." The whiskered boy said shaking his head.

"What about the Akimichi?" Sakura retorted.

"They are a special case. The Akimichi use specially designed foods to bulk up, that's why Choji's always eating those chips. Even then their bulk is primarily to make their special abilities more powerful. They also apparently found a way to convert fat into chakra as a last resort measure. You don't have to worry." Naruto answered.

"So what just pig out?" The bookworm looked faintly ill.

"No but eat something three meals a day if you can. Please tell me you ate before you came."

"Hai"

"Good let's start with a light jog shall we?" The blond said cracking his neck.

Sakura nodded.

Of course for Naruto a light jog was a steady ten miles per hour pace for an hour. For Sakura a light jog was maybe a couple times around the block. At the end Naruto looked at his team mate and sighed.

"We got a lot of work to do" he commented.

"I won't quit" Sakura gasped out between heaving breaths.

"Good because it won't get easier. If Kakashi is true to form we have two more hours to work" The blond said

Sakura groaned. Still she persevered even blowing off Sasuke when he arrived. Sasuke merely looked at the two shrugged and began to try and copy what Naruto had done yesterday. It was fiendishly difficult…everything had a chakra signature from the subtle ones in animals to the huge tsunami of power he sensed from Naruto. This led Sasuke to wonder how strong was the dobe? Only one way to find out.

"Naruto fight me" The Uchiha demanded.

"We've been over this I'm not going to fight you there's no point. I refuse to play into your psychosis." Naruto replied not taking his eyes off his other team mate as she went through a kata.

"What are you talking about?" The dark haired boy asked thrown for a loop.

"Never mind I'm not fighting you" The jinchuruki said with a sideways glance.

"Scardey cat" Sasuke taunted.

"Bandit" The blond retorted.

Now understand to a Shinobi this is the worst kind of insult even a genin can slaughter bandits in job lots. Calling someone a bandit meant that you thought that they had neither the skills are the ability to be a real ninja. In essence it was the equivalent of saying you did the other guy's mom last night.

"Why you!" The onyx eyed boy said trembling with rage.

"Alright Sakura you have the form down but you need to work on your speed." Naruto commented ignoring his potentially psychopathic team mate.

"Hey we're still talking" Sasuke shouted.

"Quiet Sasuke the adults are talking" The blond knew intellectually that her shouldn't goad the boy but his knee jerk response to any self important person was to mock them.

"Don't you talk to me like that!" The last Uchiha began twitching.

"So how do I work on my speed?" Sakura absorbed in her own problems hadn't noticed that anything was happening.

"Just keep practicing always try to be a hair faster than before. You could try weights but I don't know much about them" The whiskered boy said with a shrug.

"I will not be ignored like a child." The dark haired boy said dearly wishing he had some sort of electrical fist of death to put into his annoying team mate.

"Then stop being one." Naruto said with a low growl.

"I am not a child I haven't been one since I was eight years old" the avenger said his own voice dropping.

"And I've never been one. Stop whining" The whiskered boy said with a blank face.

"Don't talk like you know me." The last Uchiha said walking so he stood right in front of the other boy.

"Yada Yada would you stop with the tragic prince routine? It's getting old. I know you had it rough entire family dying from the one person you respected? Must be hell. But grow a fucking pair and get over it. Wallowing in hate and revenge will never bring them back you want to honor your family? Then live for them." Naruto again proved that he should never be placed on any diplomatic missions.

"I am alive" Sasuke said reflexively

"In a physical sense yes but your little better than a mad beast otherwise." The blond countered

"You have no idea what it's like to lose everything" The self proclaimed avenger snarled.

"True but you don't either you still have something Sasuke a village that adores you, all the best things that money can buy, an entire military organization just itching to help you get stronger, and last I checked 90% of the our generation's female population at your beck and call. So don't say you lost everything" the jinchuruki said leaking killing intent.

"You don't know anything" the dark haired boy said remarkably unaffected.

"What don't I know?" Naruto said reining himself in.

"What it's like to lose the people you love" The black eyed boy said bitterly.

"And you don't know what's it like to never have it. But unlike you I'm not an emo-bitch" Naruto responded flippantly.

Truth be told, the two probably more than anyone else in the village could understand each other. Problem was that Naruto could not bring himself to give Sasuke an honest chance. Not when he might have to kill the Uchiha. So in order to keep himself safe Naruto resorted to pissing off and keeping Sasuke in a negative light.

"Naruto, Sasuke stop it…we're supposed to be a team" Sakura said interrupting the two.

"Gomen Sakura" The blond said.

"Hn…" Sasuke gave a trademarked grunt. Naruto got ready to mock this when.

"Don't start" the green eyed girl said. Inner Sakura sighed…why where they both pigheaded idiots?

"But he makes it so easy!" the whiskered boy said with a fake whine.

"He doesn't know any better." Sakura said shaking her head.

"……"

"Yo" Kakashi said walking up with an eye smile.

"Hey perverted sensei…Icha Icha delivery running late today?" the blond asked deadpan.

"Naruto!" Sakura said in a scolding tone. Even though Inner Sakura was laughing her face off.

"Gomen" Naruto said with a grin.

"Actually it was a black cat…" the tardy man was a little annoyed at his title but shrugged and ignored it.

"So what are doing today Kakashi-sensei?" The former fan girl asked still a teacher's pet.

"Team work exercises…" the silver haired man tried not lose hope at the groan all three of them produced.

**Complex**

*Thud* Shin walked in and tossed a body on the table.

"Shin what did I tell you about beating random people up?" Jin asked without looking up from his book.

"Not to do it, but this wasn't random I swear" the gray haired man said waving his hands.

"So then why do we have an unconscious 14 year old boy on our table?" Rikimaru asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Check this shit out" The tattooed man said throwing a head band with the symbol for ROOT on it.

"Hmm…weren't they supposed to be disbanded after the war?" The scarred man asked.

"Yeah they were effective but they lost too many shinobi to make the program worthwhile" Jin answered.

"Mind you it was that dick Danzo running it." The ninjutsu expert of squad 13 commented.

"Think he's got his hands in some pies?" The bald man asked.

"Is Orochimaru gay?" Jin answered.

"Is he?" the gray haired man asked.

"That's what they say…" Rikimaru said with a low voice.

"Off topic!" The huge man shouted.

"Right, right so ummm what are we going to do?" Shin asked.

"I think it's time I had a chat with my dear friend Motoko Uryuu" The dark haired man said standing up.

"Didn't she try to kill you last time?" The tattooed man asked.

"Shut up"

"Well I could go talk to Gai….." Rikimaru said suppressing a shoulder.

"You will be missed" the gray haired man said bowing.

"That's it I'm telling Naruto where we keep the poisons and acids" the scarred man responded.

"No!"

"Alright you Shin can go see how Teuchi-kun is doing after you toss this little bitch to Ibiki" Jin intervened before there was another round of try to kill Shin.

"But…."

"No buts!"

"He tried to kill me last time"

"Everyone does that" The huge man said with a shrug. It was true Jin had never met someone who didn't want to kill his team mate a one point or another.

"Remind me why I hang out with you two again?" The taijutsu expert asked.

"Nothing better to do?" Shin said outloud

"I hate it when you're right" the short man said with a growl.

"Enough…game time" The leader of the trio said.

"Hai" the other two instantly switched into a much more serious frame of mind. And the trio left the complex.

'_Ahh the joys of being a loyal ninja, the mission is never done'_ Jin mused as he prepared himself for Motoko's wrath.

**2 hours later**

"Alright what do we have?" Jin asked looking a little worse for wear.

"Ibiki hasn't heard anything and can't officially interrogate the kid… unofficially he'll be done before tomorrow. Teuchi says that there's something going on with the civilians but he's been locked out." The tattooed man said with a shrug.

"Gai?" The leader of the trio continued.

"As near as I can tell in between his speeches of youth nothing's happening in the normal jonin circles." Rikimaru shuddered at saying youth.

"Well according to Motoko there is something going on in ANBU but like us she's been off duty too long and lacks the contacts." The huge man said shaking his head.

"What about Naruto's sensei? Hatake?" the gray haired man asked

"You mean get him to ask? I don't know Kakashi is a follower of the new school. Good but not exactly…suited for this kind of work. Guy likes to do things officially even if he places his comrade before the rules" Jin commented.

"Still he has the contacts that we're looking for" Shin countered.

"Maybe but I doubt he'll use them." Jin said pushing up his glasses.

"Well we have to talk to him anyway" The scarred man interjected.

"Why's that?" The genjutsu user asked.

"Gai mentioned that Kakashi talked to Hiruzen the other day about us training the kid" Rikimaru said with a shrug.

"Alright…I'll get him." The huge man said standing up.

"One question big guy does Hiruzen know? And if he does why hasn't he done anything?" Rikimaru asked.

"Hmmm Riki you go talk to him do it casual like."

"What about me?" The gray haired man asked playing with his pony tail.

"Naruto's coming over later train him in some ninjutsu nothing above a c rank damn it." Jin said knowing that Shin would go and teach the kid an A-rank if he could get away with it.

"Hai…going to be hard though the kid's a wind type not many wind justus below c rank" The ninjutsu user said shaking his heads. Wind was the combat element of choice but it didn't power down well.

"Well we want him to be balanced anyway. We can't have him weak in everything but one area." Rikimaru said thinking of ninja's that focused only on their specializations. Squad 13 referred to them as blooming idiots.

"Okay anything else?" Jin asked.

"Who's turn is it to buy dinner?"

"I think it's yours Shin" Rikimaru said with a laugh.

"Damn" Shin said as his friends left.

**Team 7 training grounds**

"Alright I think you three have done enough for today head home and wash up." Kakashi said masking his inner frustration.

Naruto and Sakura seemed to have worked out what ever problems they had with each other. It was Sasuke that was driving the team apart. It tended towards Naruto saying something and Sasuke goading him followed by either a verbal or physical beat down from Naruto. Sakura did try to keep the peace but was fair about it so Sasuke constantly found himself in the abnormal position of being told he was wrong. Thus in order to maintain his fragile pride Sasuke would again attempt to assert his superiority restarting the cycle. Kakashi had no idea what do… this wasn't like his team 7 it was different all of them were competent. Well Sakura was becoming competent. And none of them had that annoying at first yet friendly manner that Obitio had.

"Jin-sensei what are you doing here?" The blond asked.

"Just wanted to talk to Kakashi-san here wouldn't do to train you at cross purposes would it?" The huge man said flashing a disarming smile.

"Hai sensei" Naruto said taking off toward the complex.

"All right why do you really want to talk to me?" The one eyed man asked in a lazy tone.

"Two things first I want to ask if you've heard anything…suspicious from your ANBU buddies. Second I've been told that you don't like the idea of us teaching Naruto I want to find out why." Jin answered

"…Look I know you're considered heroes—" Kakashi began.

"Heroes? Is that what you think? We're ninja's at one time some of the best. We did things that no one should have to do and we did them gladly because that was the job…never mistake gratitude for hero worship." The huge man cut him off.

"What?"

"You probably think you've seen some messed up shit right? Watched team mates die and all that? Than you might have an inkling of what we went through. We didn't kill because we wanted to we did because someone had to" The retired jonin continued.

"So it was just a job to you all that killing?"

"Kakashi do you know how close Konoha came to destruction in the First and Second wars? History says that there has never been open warfare in Konoha's streets. History lies and I should know. My team began taking B class missions as soon as we were commissioned. Our first mission involved retaking the outer walls. It was pretty bad…

**Flash back (50 years ago)**

"Shin!" I shouted the idiot had gotten hit with a doton jutsu. The other guy was dead pretty quickly as Rikimaru snapped his neck.

"Don't worry I'm fine" Shin said pulling himself up and cracking his neck.

"Jin we have to pull back" Rikimaru said to me we had lost everyone else already we were the only ones left.

"We can't this post has to be taken once it's down we can cut them off." I say shaking my head. This post had to fall it was the key to the final counterattack that decided Konoha's fate.

"Besides Riki we don't really have anywhere to retreat" Shin said with a wry smile.

"Alright let's go…" I say and they nod and follow.

There was blood then and death. How we got through that day is something I still wonder about. We were three genin and we somehow took down an entire command post. In the aftermath the enemy pulled out and we were rotated into the medical wards. Officially that command post never existed we had never taken it using little more than sheer ferocity. Unofficially that was the day ANBU was formed to be the ones who did things that no one talked about. We were the first and the best.

**End Flashback**

"Than why were you called squad 13?" Kakashi asked confused.

"Because that was the command post we took out. Besides the psychological effects of believing that there were 12 other squads just like us helped immensely. On to you what do you have against our training Naruto?" The bespectacled man asked.

"I don't know any of you personally. I only knew your reputation. And it's… bad you guys were known as the bloodiest squad in history. From what I knew I assumed that you were like those psychos from Mizu or Iwa. I didn't want Naruto turning out that way." The copy cat ninja said with a shrug.

He had done it again intellectually he knew that his greatest flaw was to make snap decisions based on what he knew and not reevaluate them. In the field he was good enough that it didn't matter but otherwise… most geniuses had this flaw but really Kakashi thought _I should know better_.

"And now?" Jin asked.

"You're professionals no more no less. Bloody as you were it was just the job for you. As for my contacts in ANBU I can ask but I don't know what you're looking for…" Kakashi trailed off.

"Just ask about the old training program being restarted" the huge man said.

"All right. Why the sudden interest?" The masked man asked.

"We found something that shouldn't be around"

"Well that's about as clear as mud" The one eyed man said shaking his head.

"You ever do something completely off the books? No trace, no cover nothing?"

"Yeah…"

"This is one of those cases." Jin said walking off.

"…What have I got myself into? Oh well better go talk to Tenzo and Yugao" Kakashi said to himself and left.

**Hokage Tower**

"Rikimaru this is a surprise…you three rarely leave the tower" Sarutobi said looking up from his reading.

"Yeah too many secrets to leave it alone you know?" Rikimaru said. It was an old phrase that they had set up years ago. The Sandaime made a few hand signs and a blue seal flared into existence.

"Alright what's really going on?" Hiruzen asked.

"You know the ROOT program Danzo set up during the war?" the bald man asked.

"Oh you mean his little shadow organization?" The old Kage said with a smile.

"You know?"

Hiruzen gave him a look that said 'of course idiot'

"Of course you knew. Thing is we found one of his agents on our doorstep."

"Hmm…maybe I've underestimated the little idiot." Sarutobi muttered.

"Oh?"

"I allow Danzo's little group to operate primarily because they form the function your squad did during the long peace. Not nearly as effectively but still well enough that they are useful. However I made it clear that it was to be foreign targets not our own people…Danzo has all of his father's brains but none of his common sense." The gray haired kage said.

"What are you going to do Hiruzen?" Rikimaru asked.

"For now nothing…can't tip my hand yet but tell Naruto visit me sometime would you?" The Sandaime said quietly.

"You don't mean…"

"A failsafe in case we can't do it nothing more." Sarutobi replied.

"Fine." Rikimaru said with faint distaste.

"I care about that boy just as much as you do but my position…" The Sandaime shrugged.

"Yeah I know I just wonder how much Naruto can take sometimes. Kids got a lot on his plate" the old taijutsu specialist said.

"He'll handle it with the same skill and poise his father did. Despite your…training the boy was and still is a born leader." The bearded Kage said.

"Thinking he'll take his old man's spot some day?" Rikimaru asked.

"Konoha could do much worse." Sarutobi said with a smile.

"True could you imagine Gai?" Rikimaru wasn't a prankster like Shin but could use words as effectively as his fists to mess people up.

"Stop trying to give me nightmares"

"Alright see you around Hiruzen" the bald man said leaving.

"One question" Hiruzen said.

"Yeah?" Rikimaru asked turning at the door way

"What's Naruto's skill level?" the old kage asked.

"Overall about what we were when we first started kids a bit better in stealth and tactics then we were then but his control is still…average. Why?" the short man asked.

"Because Kakashi feels Naruto's about chuunin level. Which means that he can pass the exam which means that he gets the truth about his heritage both the good and the bad." The 'Professor' explained

"Hmm …yeah these days he would be which means everything you said it did. Damn economy" Rikimaru muttered.

"We had to adapt." The Sandaime said apologetically

"I know I don't blame you for that. The feudal lords decided that we were too powerful and cut our funding after the wars. You and Minato did what it took to keep Konoha alive. But for someone like me it's…unsettling the way these new shinobi act." The scarred man said with a grimace.

"I agree with you but unfortunately the Daimyos did try to break us after the wars using their money and influence and with the damage we had taken and their samurai we were trapped. But that's no longer an issue is it?" Hiruzen gave a predatory smile hinting at something. That Rikimaru didn't get.

"Hiruzen one day I'll understand how your mind works when you do things and then I'll be dead." The bald man said shaking his head.

"Have to have my fun someway" The Hokage said with a too innocent smile.

"Why is it that all the Hokages except the Yondaime enjoy playing puppet master? I mean Shodai basically tricked and forced all of the clans in Fire country to work with him. The Nidaime destroyed the Uchiha clan ensuring that they would become fat, weak and arrogant to be taken care of at later date and you ensured that Mizu, Iwa and Kumo would forever be thought of as 'bad' villages getting us the lion share of the missions. Even though we charge more. " The scarred man asked.

"We don't get out much…" Hiruzen said with a shrug.

"Whatever I'm gone." Rikimaru said leaving.

**Konoha streets (Night)**

"Alright dobe if you don't want to fight I'll make you fight!" Sasuke shouted launching an axe kick as Naruto walked by. The blond leaped to the side barely dodging.

"Son of a bitch…Sasuke this is your last warning back off" the blond said his eyes cold. Sasuke made no move to retreat but attacked with a series of punches.

"Fine then. I won't be responsible for this…" Naruto said closing his eyes.

Sasuke for the life of him didn't know what happened next except that both his arms had been torn out of their sockets and some how his knee had been shattered. He let out an involuntary scream trained our not Sasuke wasn't used to a lot of physical pain so quickly.

"Listen up Sasuke this is your last warning…come at me again and I WILL cripple you for life. As it is a good medic can have you fixed up by the end of the week." Naruto said grabbing the Uchiha's shirt and pulling him up to eye level.

"How are you so strong?" Sasuke asked in a whisper.

"Same way anyone else is by lots of blood, sweat and tears. Your so focused on your hate that you can't adapt and grow. You say you must kill that man but your trying to use his methods not yours and that is why your weak. " The blue eyed boy said hoping that this got through to the Uchiha

"Maybe" the dark haired boy mumbled.

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. My clone will take you to the hospital. You don't know who did this to you right?" Naruto drew out the right slowly.

"Hai" Sasuke answered grimacing as the clone none to gently grabbed gun.

"See you around Sasuke" The whiskered boy said walking off leaving Sasuke to his thoughts.

A/N: Fuck this took forever…I blame the new job I got. So yeah for the next few months expect short chapters every couple of weeks sorry. As always please forgive any mistakes and tell me what I did wrong. On a side note I have no definite pairing in place yet but both Sakura and Hinata are out okay?

Next: Sasuke recovers, Kakashi is pissed and Naruto gets some new orders. Wave Arc next chapter baby!


	5. One Step Closer

Disclaimer: I own Squad 13 and the plot for this fanfic nothing else. That said don't steal.

**Scene Change(Time)**

'_Internal monologue'_

One Step Closer

**Hospital (Next day)**

"So, Uchiha-sama will be out of commission for at least a week Hatake-san." The doctor said.

"Did he tell you what happened?" The silver haired Jonin asked.

"No, he refuses to tell us...if I didn't know better I'd say he's terrified of something." The doctor answered, frowning as he glanced at the charts.

"I'll have a chat with him. Maybe I can find out." Kakashi said.

"Thank you." The doctor said with a slight bow as he left to do his rounds.

Kakashi frowned behind his mask as he made his way to Sasuke's room. Sasuke was rapidly becoming the poster child for problematic teammates. Still, Kakashi needed to know what happened, so gathering his poise he entered the room.

"Alright what happened to you Sasuke?" The one-eyed man asked nonchalantly.

"No idea." The brooding boy said staring at the window.

"You have no idea who crippled you?" Kakashi said a single eyebrow rose.

"No, it was so fast I don't know who or how they did it." The dark haired boy said still looking at the window.

"You're lying." The silver haired Jonin accused. Sasuke was a decent Genin so Kakashi reasoned that if he wasn't dead that Sasuke would have gotten a look at his attacker.

"I'm telling the truth." Sasuke was only partially lying. The avenger still had no idea how Naruto had disabled him so fast.

"It was Naruto wasn't it?" The cyclopean Jonin asked and saw Sasuke ever so slightly flinch.

"No." The last Uchiha said almost petulantly.

"Now I know your lying. Damn it Sasuke what the hell did you do?" Kakashi said his anger rising.

"Nothing." Sasuke said and began staring out the window again.

"Alright. I wanted to be nice to you I really did, but when I wake up and find out one of my team is incapacitated for no reason I get a little annoyed. Sasuke Uchiha you will tell me what happened or I will dismiss you as a ninja got it?" The former ANBU Captain said using a voice he hadn't used in years.

"I attempted to goad Naruto Uzumaki into a fight; he responded that he didn't want to. I continued and was disabled. There is no evidence besides circumstantial that Naruto did anything." The onyx-eyed Uchiha said shuddering a bit.

"So he did all of this?" Kakashi asked.

"I don't know." The dark haired boy had returned to his earlier denials.

"He threatened you to keep quiet didn't he?"

Sasuke merely nodded.

"With what?" The one eyed Jonin asked.

"Permanently crippling me."

"Alright Sasuke, given that you're already in the hospital I can't do more to you for being a complete and total idiot. However, pull a stunt like this again and I will remove you from being a ninja until you're more stable." Kakashi said masking his annoyance.

"You can't---"

"I can and I will if I have to. I suggest you don't make it necessary." The older man cut the boy off.

"Hai, sensei."

"Now to go talk to the other possibly sociopathic Genin I have." The one-eyed Jonin said with a sigh.

**Training Ground**

"Damn it why can't I hit you?" Sakura growled as she launched a haymaker.

"Because you're telegraphing your moves? Just a thought." The blond said grinning as he just danced out of the way.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up you baka." The green-eyed girl said panting.

"Hmmm, whatever happened to that nice girl who treated most of us with respect?" The whiskered boy said mock pouting.

"Well now that I'm no longer after that bastard, I can afford to act like my real self." Sakura explained.

"A violent, angry girl?" The blue-eyed boy quipped.

"Why you…" The former fan girl shouted and launched a rather powerful, but clumsy punch.

"Jeez Sakura don't you remember about keeping your emotions in check?" Naruto asked shaking his head as he causally redirected the punch.

"You don't seem to..."

"Hey, if I wasn't, half the village would have been burned down when I was 8." The blond retorted.

"Right...." the bookworm said.

"Still, you seem distracted, what's up?"

"Sasuke's in the hospital." Sakura said.

"I thought we didn't care about him?" The whiskered boy asked blinking.

"He's still our teammate." The green-eyed girl said with a frown.

"Only in the remotest sense of the word." Naruto retorted.

"Naruto, you of all people should be more understanding of him." The pink haired girl was tired of the two constantly bickering. True it had only been a few days but that didn't mean she liked it.

"Oh?"

"You're both orphans right?" Sakura asked. Naruto shook his head and began.

"I was orphaned because of the Kyuubi attack. Sasuke was orphaned because his brother went insane. We both know what it's like to not have parents but that's about it. He lost something I never had; he also gained something I'll never have so I really can't relate too much."

"Still, shouldn't that make you friendlier to him?" The former fan girl said hoping to mend team relations.

"Meh, never was one to hide what I feel about people."

"If you say so."

"NARUTO UZUMAKI! Front and Center now!" Kakashi roared.

"Sir, Yes Sir!" Naruto said standing in a picture perfect parade rest stance. _'Whenever your superiors are pissed, remember to say 'Sir' as often as possible and as forcefully as possible, this will A) Keep you from running your mouth B) Make them feel better and C) distract them from whatever it was that was pissing them off in the first place'_ Rikimaru's advice came to his mind.

"I have just come from the hospital where your teammate lies injured do you know why?" Kakashi asked in the paternal shouting tone.

"Sir?" The blond said still staring forward.

"From what he told me, you injured him and threatened to do worse if he didn't keep quiet." The silver haired man shouted.

"Sir."

"Do you want to tell me why you felt it necessary to cripple him?"

"Sir." Naruto's tone became negative.

"Look Uzumaki, you want to play the military game fine but you will tell me one way or another."

"Sir."

"Tell me anyway." Kakashi gave a direct order leaving Naruto no choice but to explain.

"Uchiha attacked me outside of authorized training, I defended myself."

"Anything else?" The one-eyed Jonin asked.

"No Sir." The blond answered.

"Alright Naruto consider yourself on watch. If anything like this happens again..." Kakashi let the threat hang in the air.

Kakashi didn't really blame Naruto for what happened. Given what he knew Kakashi was fairly certain that Naruto had originally intended to permanently cripple Sasuke but held back at the last minute. That didn't mean that he wasn't pissed at both of them.

"Understood Sir." The tone was crisp, perfect in every respect, too perfect really.

Naruto had mentally added Kakashi to one of his possible enemies instead of allies. He knew that he had gone a bit farther than was considered protocol, and expected a verbal reprimand for it. But he had filled in the blank with execution instead of Kakashi's intended threat of jail time.

"Let's go get our mission for the day." The masked Jonin said frowning behind his mask. He had failed one of the most important tests he ever had. And for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why or how.

**Hokage Tower**

'_Hmmm… this report means that Tazuna is lying. Still, Gai's team should be more than enough. But from what Jiraiya says Gato will become a problem in the future. So how to solve it? A full blown assassination team for a minor country is a bit much, the other villages are already screaming over our unilateral diplomacy of the last few years, no need to give them more ammo by hijacking another land to our cause...Hmm Sasuke Uchiha is out of commission, attach both Sakura and Naruto to different teams? That could work. As much as I dislike using children as assassins, Naruto's probably the best option here. I'm getting to old for this and my successors consist of a drunk, a pervert and if we're really unlucky, Maito Gai.' _The Hokage's thoughts were interrupted by his secretary.

"Hokage-sama, Kakashi-san and his team are here to see you." She said.

"Very well, send them in." The old Kage said.

"Hello Hokage-sama we're here for a D-rank." Kakashi said his voice a bit muted.

"And Sasuke is incapacitated?" Sarutobi asked.

"Unfortunately yes." The Jonin answered.

"Very well, I am temporarily detaching Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki from your command. I have a few missions for the lot of you. Sakura, given your predisposition towards genjutsu I am attaching you to team 8 for the duration of Sasuke's recovery. Naruto, you will be attached to Maito Gai's team both as a punishment for what you did and because I'd like to get you some field experience." The Sandaime said forcefully.

"Sir!" Kakashi said in his best 'I am shocked and outraged at what you said but still respect you' tone.

"As for you Kakashi, I have a fairly high ranked escort mission that I was going to give to someone else but I can send you along by yourself." The Hokage said settling his gaze on Kakashi.

"Alright Old man where do we go?" Naruto asked, taking everything in stride.

"Meet your teammates at the gate tomorrow morning at nine, Sakura you can meet your team at training ground eight." Sarutobi answered.

"So rest of the day off?" The blond asked hopefully. He had some ideas for wind jutsus that he wanted to get Shin-sensei's thoughts on.

"Not quite Naruto. Given everything else, I want you to help me with some paperwork. Kakashi here's the scroll; get it to Suna at all costs."

"Hai Hokage-sama." Kakashi sighed; he was still loyal to the Hokage but felt that his leader was getting more and more eccentric. Mind you, he did have to deal with Konoha ninja on a daily basis.

"Now Naruto-kun let's begin on the joys of paperwork."

**4 hours later**

"For the love of Kami make it stop." Naruto whined as another stack of papers appeared in front of him.

"Hmm, lasted longer than I thought you would." The Hokage said with a laugh.

"You do this every day?" The blonde's respect for the Hokage skyrocketed.

"Only on Mondays." Sarutobi answered.

"What about the rest of the week?" The whiskered boy asked.

"I doodle, read porn, research the nature of chakra, go out amongst the people, and devise strategies to destroy any opponent I expect to face. Whatever needs to be done." The Sandaime said with a shrug.

"I didn't need to know about that second one." Naruto said visibly shuddering. The Hokage just laughed.

"Still, I have something to ask of you Naruto." The Sandaime said.

"What is it Old Man?" The blond asked raising an eyebrow.

"That's just it, I'm old. I won't be around forever and I want you to do what you can to take care of this place after I'm gone."

"That's crazy Jiji, your asking me to be the Hokage? The councils will never allow it. Even if they admit I'm not the fox...there's too many bad memories for them to ever be comfortable with letting someone like me lead the village." The whiskered boy said shaking his head.

Giving up his dream had hurt. But in the end, Naruto felt that it was more important to have people that actually knew you acknowledge you, than a throng of people that you'll never meet acknowledge you. At least, that's what he told himself at night.

"Being the Hokage is far more than a position, it's a state of being. Regardless of the councils there is always one ninja that's, for lack of a better term, the soul of the village and that person is the Hokage; title or no." Sarutobi said as he put the last paper away.

"Huh?" The blond said blinking.

"Don't worry you'll get it one day." Hiruzen said smiling.

"So you want me to keep the village safe? From what?" The blue-eyed boy asked confused.

"Itself. Naruto, there have been many attempts both in my time and before to turn Konoha into a military base. I know that you don't follow the 'new' ways but understand this is a home. It has always been one. It's why your teachers and I did so much during the wars. To give the people the home we never had. To lose that simply because of a hunger for power is something we must be on watch for." The Hokage explained.

"I understand Jiji; you want me to keep Konoha as a home for people." Naruto said and cracked his back as he stood up.

"Hai." Hiruzen said as he stood up and cleaned up the room with Naruto.

"I'll try Jiji." The blond said looking at the monument.

"That's all I can ask." The old Kage said with a smile.

"So, we done?" Naruto asked surveying the room.

"Sure, let's go for some ramen." Hiruzen said smiling as the blond raced him to Ichikaru's.

**Complex (Night)**

"So Sarutobi put you with Gai temporarily until Sasuke heals up?" Jin asked moving a pawn. Naruto wasn't about to train physically, given that he had a real mission, but his mind could still use a work out.

"Hai." Naruto answered moving his bishop out.

"You know there's something more." The huge man said moving another pawn.

"Probably, but I don't know what yet." The blond said frowning as he moved his knight.

"Well Sarutobi doesn't do things without a reason. Still what are your thoughts?" The genjutsu user asked taking the knight with a rook.

"This mission probably has more than one way to complete it but the most efficient way is probably a more ruthless way; one that no Jonin leader would expect Genin to take." Naruto answered using his bishop on the rook.

"So you think he wants you to be the ruthless one in this case?" The retired shinobi asked moving another pawn.

"Maybe or maybe he just wants me out of the village while Sasuke and Sakura learn to work together." The blond said cynically, moving his own pawn to counter.

"You think so little of Sarutobi?" The large man said.

"No, but one has to be open to all possibilities." The whiskered boy said shrugging.

"True." Jin said moving a knight.

"So, any information on this Gai person? I've heard Rikimaru-sensei talk about him a couple of times but never anything concrete." The blond asked moving out his other knight.

"Gai is an extraordinarily strong Jonin and an equal of Kakashi. Either one of them would be in the running for the Hokage title if Tsunade and Jiraiya back out. As a person, he's...weird. For whatever reason, he is obsessed with the concept of youth, taijutsu, green spandex, and defeating Kakashi. Despite all that, he's still considered a decent and honourable man." The huge genjutsu user said moving out his bishop.

"Huh, sounds like a real character." Naruto said with a smirk.

"We all deal with things in our own ways, you know this. Speaking of which do you have a hobby yet?" Jin said shaking his head.

"Yeah, I've learned how to carve wood, it's kind of relaxing." The blond said taking the bishop with the queen.

"Wood carving?" The genjutsu user asked.

"Well I certainly can't afford stone." The whiskered boy retorted, frowning as he lost his queen.

"True, why carving?" Jin asked.

"I like to create something when I work, something that lasts. You never said my hobby had to make sense just that I needed one." Naruto said moving his pawn.

"Yep, check by the way." The huge man said moving a bishop.

Naruto let out a growl and moved his king out of the way.

"You know you'll probably have your first kill this mission, you ready for it?" The genjutsu user asked.

"I think so. As long as it's part of the job, I can handle it. Demons don't discriminate about who they kill; as long as I do they're wrong about me." The blond said moving his rook out.

"Nothing can really prepare you for the first kill, the feeling you get as a man's spirit slowly fades from his eyes. It doesn't really get any easier but you get used to it." The dark haired man said shrugging.

"Thanks for comfort Jin-sensei." Naruto said cynically.

"Just warning you." The bespectacled man said moving another pawn.

"I know." The blond said moving a pawn.

"Checkmate." Jin said sliding a rook into position.

"How, just How? I had you!" The whiskered boy said angrily.

"You're still too linear about your strategies. Often it's the indirect methods that work the best." The dark haired man said smiling.

"Damn pawns." The blue-eyed boy grumbled.

"Ease off the pawns, they may be weak but used right they can take out any of the stronger pieces. And right now you're one of the pawns Naruto." The genjutsu user said.

"If you say so Jin-sensei. I'm heading home to get some sleep." Naruto said frowning.

"Have a good night Naruto." Jin called as the boy left. Naruto gave a wave as he left out the front door.

"So it's on tomorrow?" Rikimaru asked walking in.

"Yeah we got the information we need from Ibiki. One way or another we're taking that bastard down while Naruto's gone." Jin said putting the pieces away.

"You know this one might be above us we ain't young anymore." The scarred man said his face solemn.

"If not us then whom? If not now when? If not here then where?" The huge genjutsu user said scowling.

"I get it; you don't have to quote our motto at me. But Naruto will be pretty hurt if we die." The bald man said not backing down.

"He's a tough kid he'll handle it." The dark haired man said standing up.

"Careful Jin, I know you want payback for Diruka, but don't let it go too far." Rikimaru said with a look.

"What do you take me for, some Uchiha?" Jin said as he walked away.

"Night Jin." The scarred man said.

**Konoha Gate (8:55AM)**

"Sir, I assure you that they are capable, we're just waiting for our temporary teammate." Tenten, as she usually had to, was reassuring the client that her sensei and Rock Lee were good.

"Are you sure? They're super weird." Tazuna muttered.

"That is an understatement but it is our fate to deal with them. Although the shorter one isn't that strong, Maito Gai is very strong." Neji said his face in a perpetual frown.

"What about your other team mate? The Hokage said I would have five ninja, he's super late." The old bridge builder said.

"I am not you old drunk. I was told to be here by nine and I am." Naruto said walking up carrying a pack.

"You sure he's a shinobi? He doesn't look like one." Neji said. Naruto, besides the hair and whiskers, looked ridiculously normal. Like someone you'd meet on the street.

"I don't know I've never met him before." The brown haired girl muttered.

"Morning, name's Naruto...what the hell is up with those two?" The whiskered boy said pointing at Gai and Lee.

"Don't worry about it." TenTen said. It sucked being the only normal one on team Gai, it really did.

"Are they going to hug?" The blond asked.

"Look away!" Both Neji and TenTen shouted. Tazuna already having witnessed that terror did.

"KAI! KAI! For the love of God KAI!" Naruto shouted as he took the sunset genjutsu full force.

"It won't work; even the genjutsu mistress of Konoha can't break it." The weapons mistress said behind closed eyes.

"I can still see it when I close my eyes..." The blue-eyed boy said shuddering.

"It is his fate." Neji said mentally marking down another victim of the jutsu.

"Ahh, all better now." The blond said while cracking his neck.

"What did you do?" The Hyuuga prodigy asked.

"Repression and denial are wonderful things." Naruto answered.

"I'm sorry that you had to see Gai-sensei and Lee like that." The weapons mistress said.

"Huh, Jin-sensei did say he was odd." The blond said shaking his head.

"Jin-sensei?" TenTen asked raising an eyebrow.

"Just an old shinobi who taught me some stuff. What's the mission?" The whiskered boy asked.

"It seems to be my fate to be surrounded by incompetents." The Hyuuga prodigy muttered annoyed.

"Yeah and it's my fate to deal with self righteous assholes! All I got told was to show up." Naruto retorted.

"We're escorting this guy to Wave." The weapons mistress explained.

"In that case my apologies you are, after all, a client. I should be professional about such things." The blond said.

"Alright?" The old bridge builder said unsure of how to proceed.

"Ah, you must be the youthful Naruto-kun. Your flames of youth are burning high today!" Gai began shouting.

"Umm sure, why not, let's just get the job done please." Naruto said after several minutes of trying to figure out what his temporary sensei had just said.

"Hai, but first we must introduce ourselves and show off our flaming youth! I am Maito Gai—"The spandex wearing Jonin begins.

"Konoha's Taijutsu master, considered on par with Kakashi Hatake of the Sharigan. Noted quirks: obsessed with taijutsu, training, youth, a rivalry with Kakashi and green spandex. I made sure to know my team leader but I couldn't find out anything else about the team." The blond interrupted.

"Very good, Rock Lee my beautiful pupil you're up next!" If Gai was annoyed that his new student knew so much he didn't show it.

"Hai Gai-sensei. I am Rock Lee; I seek to prove that hard work can overcome natural genius! I specialize in taijutsu and will use it to become a splendid ninja!" The young clone shouted.

"I am Neji Hyuuga, I use Jyuuken to prove that I am fated to be the greatest." Neji said monotone.

"I'm TenTen; I like weapons and specialize in throwing weapons. I want to prove that a kunoichi can be as strong as any male shinobi." The bun haired girl said.

"My turn, okay my name is Naruto Uzumaki. I have no real specialty, I'm proficient in most ninja arts, but if I had to choose, I'd say stealth or ninjutsu. I don't really have a goal right now." The whiskered boy said with a shrug.

"That is most unyouthful Naruto-kun; we must stoke the flames on this mission." Gai shouted leading Lee to also shout about Gai's youth. You can guess what happened from there.

"I need some aspirin." Naruto muttered.

"Here." TenTen said giving a small bottle to the boy.

"Thanks TenTen."

"Don't mention it."

"Can we go? These guys are super creepy!" Tazuna said.

"Yes we shall leave immediately!" Gai shouted.

"This is going to be a long mission." The blond muttered.

"True, but at least you get to be with new people." TenTen said with a shrug.

"I guess." Naruto said with a sigh.

**Road to Wave**

*Boom* Naruto had thrown a level three explosive seal at the genjutsu. It rained blood. Or it would've if there was anything left. Level 3's were normally used for building demolitions.

"What the hell!" TenTen shouted. She, along with Naruto, had been on point with Lee and Gai on the sides and Neji bringing up the rear.

"I saw a threat and I took care of it." The blond said.

"By blowing it up?" The weapons mistress asked.

"Wasn't sure of their rank or skill, so yes." The whiskered boy said.

"Those were people!" The brown-eyed girl shouted. TenTen didn't shy away from killing but this...was too much.

"People who were after the client!" Naruto said his own voice rising.

"That doesn't mean you can just blow things up because it looks like a threat!" The bun haired girl retorted.

"Look, I took care of the threat. I am not proud of it but I'm just doing my job." The whiskered boy scowled in irritation.

"TenTen-chan, Naruto-kun, you must not argue so unyouthfully! Although he let his flames of youth get the better of him Naruto did right." Gai said intervening.

"Thank you, now I'm going to go throw up." Naruto said walking over to the side of the road and heaving up his lunch.

"Why?" The brown haired girl asked.

"First kill." The blond replied.

TenTen was surprised, given his calm professionalism she had assumed that Naruto was like them, a veteran Genin. Naruto pulled out a stick of wood and a kunai and began carving.

"Why are you doing that?" Neji asked, hoping that this one was indeed as normal as he seemed.

"It's just something that calms me down." The whiskered Genin said with a shrug.

"Tazuna has been most unyouthful, he has a very powerful enemy after him, but we must not let our flames of youth falter we must go on." Gai shouted with Lee close behind.

"Translation?" Naruto asked.

"Client lied about the mission but we're going anyway." The weapons mistress explained. The group began moving again.

"Look, sorry about surprising you back there but...its instinct for me to react to a threat with lethal force now. Unless I'm consciously watching myself I always go for the kill move." The blond explained.

"Why would you be like that?" TenTen asked with a look of scepticism.

"I trained under three retired ANBU vets who, and I quote 'learned to fight while swimming in a river of blood' I have the same mindset." Naruto explained.

Not to mention that he had more or less raised himself and had equipped himself with a very good set of survival instincts to do so. Said instincts translated well to the ruthless style of fighting that squad 13 employed.

"Alright, just give me a heads up next time okay?" The brown-eyed girl asked.

"Sure." The blond agreed.

"You're all right newbie." TenTen

"Newbie?" Naruto said incredulous as the two began to argue. Gai just smiled as they made their way to Wave.

A/N: Wheee that was fun. Anyway go vote on the poll for my new story it goes down whenever the next chapter of Once More comes out. A big thank you to DustBunnyQueen for betaing this chapter. Any mistakes are as always my own. I'm not a review whore but if you guys would like to leave some so that I can improve the story please do.


	6. Flame In the Night

Flame in the Night

**Scene Change (Time)**

'_Internal monologue'_

**Wave (2 weeks since leaving Konoha) **

"Down!" Gai shouted. The team reacted and threw themselves flat, pulling Tazuna with them.

"Only the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist have such huge swords..." Naruto said as they stood back up.

"True, only a Mist Shinobi has the strength to use a Zanbatou!" Zabuza said trying for some psychological warfare.

"And only Mist Shinobi have a need to compensate for something." The blond boy deadpanned and drew his sword.

"Naruto-kun, this is my youthful fight, stay with the others, and protect Tazuna." Gai said, putting his hand in front of them.

"I will show you the ways of youth!" The green spandex wearing Jonin shouted.

Zabuza blinked, made a few hand signs muttered, something and covered the entire area in mist.

"Where did this mist come from?" Rock Lee asked, for once being quite.

"It's a jutsu of some sort." Naruto answered.

"The Kirigakure technique I'd guess." Neji said, showing off his intelligence just a little.

"Crap, in a straight fight Gai would win, but Zabuza's levelled the playing field. He can't hit what he can't see." The blond Genin said, gripping his sword a little tighter.

"Eight Points: Kidneys, Heart, Liver, Lung, Spine, Jugular, Collarbone, Brain. Which point should I use to kill you? So many choices maybe I'll go for the girl's head?" Zabuza said ramping up his killing intent as he went on. Team Gai, although more experienced than Naruto, had yet to feel a full Jonin's KI.

'_....This is intense I've never felt one this powerful before!' _

'_So this is the power of a jonin? It doesn't matter, fate has decreed his defeat.'_

'_I am feeling most unyouthful.'_

'_Concentrate your murderous intent on a single point...then release.' _Naruto, on the other hand, had been subjected to it every day for the last two years. You build up immunity to such things after a while.

Jin, growing tired of hitting the brick wall that was Naruto's genjutsu ability, had taught him the counter. Use your own. Naruto did so.

Now there are several types of Killing intent depending on the motivation of the user. Jin had explained it thus:

"Most people, when they want to kill, tend to use their anger to overcome societal blocks. This translates into their intent, making it warm and feral as rage overwhelms everything else. This kind is fairly easy to counter. A person in rage is little more than an animal. The second kind is the one most shinobi have. Simply put, you make a conscious decision that this person will die. This intent tends to be cloying and have the feeling of inevitability to it. Sometimes it will overwhelm a person and make suicide seem like the best idea.

"The last and most difficult kind is the crazy kind. This one varies a lot, but is mostly characterized by the user not caring whether or not you live or die. This translates into suffocating tension that makes you want to kill yourself just to end it all. Countering these mostly focuses on your will to live; the stronger it is the easier it is to summon up your own killing intent to counter it."

Naruto thought back to the conversation and releases his own KI. It was only mid-Chuunin level, but it was enough, combined with Gai's, to dispel the effect Zabuza was having.

Gai proceeded to attack Zabuza in the mist, trusting his team to keep Tazuna safe. Team Gai heard crashes and shouts but only Neji could see what was going on. The fate-loving boy was riveted; it was rare to see two A-class ninja go full out.

"There's someone else here..." The Branch Hyuuga said as the fight went on. He had seen another chakra source with his Byakugan.

"I'm already on it." Naruto answered.

"Not by yourself newbie." TenTen said in a harsh whisper.

"Actually, I'm just a clone." The blond said shrugging. The Bun haired girl growled.

"Damn it!" Naruto swore as the masked ninja replaced herself with a log at the last second, dodging the sword swipe.

"Damn it!" The masked ninja also swore as Naruto pulled the same trick, dodging a barrage of senbon.

The two continued to play cat and mouse, each of their attacks either being dodged with a kawarimi or blocked with a weapon. Logs littered the forest floor.

"You're good." The blond jinchuruki said as the two struggled deadlocked. Naruto's blade arm held back by the masked girl's left arm while the masked ninja's senbon arm was held back by Naruto's arm.

"So are you. What's your name?" The senbon user asked.

"Call me Kyoushu, yours?" The whiskered boy said with a smirk.

"Yuki. Tell me, why do you call yourself an assassin?" Haku asked, her confused brown eyes hidden by the mask.

"I'm a ninja it's in the job description. Why call yourself snow?" Naruto answered.

"Let me show you." The Ice user said.

Using impressive flexibility, the black haired girl launched a front kick straight up, catching Naruto in the jaw. They both jumped back, Haku flashing through a set of hand seals.

"Hyoton: Aisu Yari!" She called sending twin spears of ice toward Naruto. The blond once again substituted out at the last minute.

'_I can't hold back anymore, regardless of what it does to my body I have to go all out!' _The blond thought as he forced chakra through his limbs.

Haku prepared for an attack and was not disappointed. The blond blurred in and out of existence, battering the young ice user with cuts and punches. Operating at this speed was still not something Naruto was used to, throwing off his precision.

"Zabuza-sama!" Haku cried as Gai's Chakra levels spiked, signalling the release of the Gates, and Zabuza's all but flat lined. The Ice user used a shunshin towards his master's position.

"Oh like hell you are bitch! Get your ass back here!" The whiskered Genin shouted and chased after his opponent.

'_Too damn cocky from those fights with Kakashi and Sasuke. Damn it all, how can I have screwed up so badly? One strike, one kill, that's the goal, and I lost sight of that. __No more, not when I very possibly placed my comrades in danger!' _Naruto swore at himself as he caught up to them, just in time to very cleanly slice Haku's head from his neck.

"What?" The two Jonin asked, their fight interrupted by the arrival of their charges.

"Just doing the job Gai-san. Take care of this over compensating freak so we can get back to Tazuna." The blond answered.

"I'm afraid, Kyoushu, that I'm not dead." Haku said with a small chuckle as she came out of the mist.

"Fuck a clone and a genjutsu right?" The blond asked.

"Right." The excessively pretty girl said.

"Fine Round Two..." The jinchuruki growled.

"Hyoton: Makyō Hyōshō!" Haku replied, surrounding the trio with mirrors of Ice.

"All right...ummm Gai-sensei, plan?" Naruto asked, not being able to find any exits.

"Do you still have those explosive notes?" The spandex wearing Jonin asked.

"Hai." The blond said.

"Set them off, all of them, and run as fast as you can." The Turtle summoner ordered.

No hint of the insane youth spouting man was there. This was the Maito Gai who had taken out an entire Iwa post by himself during the Third War.

"That will take out....actually I don't know how much it will take out, I've never used this many explosive notes." Naruto said frowning.

"Don't worry; my youthful plan will not fail!" Gai proclaimed.

"Fuck, alright in 5..." The whiskered boy said lighting up the tags and idly wondering if his healing ability could bounce back from this.

"Are you insane?" Zabuza said as he noticed a lot of charges being lit up.

"Ummm get back to us, 4..." Naruto replied.

"We're leaving." The Demon of the mist was a violent and quite possibly sociopathic man. Suicidal he was not.

"Hai Zabuza-sama." The Ice user agreed and dropped her jutsu, allowing the two to shunshin out of the area.

"3..." The Blond counted. Feeling a bit sorry that he would never get a chance to get back to Konoha or interact with his friends again.

"Wait, you actually activated them? It was a bluff!" The bushy browed Jonin said.

"Uhh....." Naruto answered eloquently.

"Move!" Gai shouted, grabbing Naruto, tearing off his pack, and throwing him at the others.

"Kuchiyose: Boss Summon!" The green clad Jonin shouted and summoned something.

*Ka-boom* the clearing was rocked by a massive explosion. Oddly, none of the force made to where the team was.

"Your youthfulness is most appreciated Naruto-kun...but next time, try to not over do it so much my beautiful pupil!" Gai said, walking out of the mist and promptly collapsing as the Gates and what he had done in the mist caught up to him.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted.

"All right, as per standard procedure, I am in charge until Gai-sensei awakens. Naruto and Lee, you will carry Gai-sensei. TenTen will be on point and I will bring up the rear. Tazuna-san lead us to your home." Neji said taking charge.

"Hai." The old bridge builder said.

The team made their way to Tazuna's house and set up watch, it would be two days before Gai would awaken. Gai then explained that he had used almost all of his chakra to summon the Turtle boss, whose shell was strong enough to with stand the Kusangi itself. A 4-ton blast was a bit much, but Roshi had weathered it and demanded a ton of grapes as payment.

**Tazuna's House (3 days later)**

"Alright my youthful pupils, Zabuza and Yuki will no doubt come for another round. Now that I'm fully recovered from using the gates and summoning Roshi-sama we have to train for the next battle. Now Naruto, do you know your elemental affinity?" Gai was back to his usual hyper self.

"Yeah it's wind." The blond answered.

"I am going to teach each of you an elemental jutsu, with the exception of my adorable student Lee, who will be guarding Tazuna while learning to use nunchucks!"

"Hai" The group agreed.

Naruto never had any real intention of training with the jutsu; he left a clone with enough chakra, grabbed a hat and some shades, and went hunting for information. His goal was simple: eliminate Gato and thus the threat. To do that, he needed to know both where Gato's hideout was, and the general layout. The previous days had solved the first problem; today Naruto would solve the second.

The biggest problem with any sort of fortification or hideout is supplying it. It does little good to have impervious walls when the men can't hold them because they have no food or water. Although it had taken him all of the previous days, Naruto had managed to get signed on as a general labourer for the man who carried the food to Gato. The day was fruitful, as Naruto was able to make a good mental map of the place.

That night Naruto prepared himself to infiltrate the base and assassinate Gato along with his two lieutenants. Doing so should throw the group into chaos, causing them to self-destruct and making them easy to mop up. Just as he was about to leave, TenTen caught him.

"What are you doing Newbie?" The weapon mistress demanded.

"Just going for a stroll, and don't call me Newbie!" The whiskered boy replied slightly irritated.

"A stroll? When we have people like Zabuza around? I thought you were smarter than that." TenTen said

"Just need some air, Lee's getting on my nerves alright?" The blond said making an excuse.

"No it isn't, you said you were a professional and professionals don't let things like personal conflicts affect them." The brown-eyed girl shot it down adroitly.

"All right you want the truth? I'm preparing to infiltrate Gato's compound, assassinate both him and his lieutenants, and as many as I can on the way out. Happy?" Naruto said deadpan.

"Don't lie to me." The weapon mistress pulled out a kunai from well...God knows where but Naruto sure as hell didn't.

"I'd love to continue this conversation but---"The jinchuruki began.

"You're not going anywhere Naruto, I don't know what your problem is but were a team for now, and you have to trust us." Only to be cut off by TenTen while she brandished her kunai threateningly.

"That implies, TenTen, that you trust me. And you don't and you shouldn't, you barely know me." The blond retorted.

"I trust you..." The brown haired girl replied pulling her kunai away.

"Do you? Then just let me go on my walk." Naruto said.

"Gai-sensei said to travel in teams of two remember?" The bun haired girl said with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto actually hadn't heard Gai say that because it had been his clone that had been told. And it had yet to dispel itself and run out of chakra. The clone had stayed behind to work even harder on the Futon: Daitoppa.

"Well, I thought a short run around the block where everyone could see us would be fine." The whiskered boy said with a shrug.

"All right just stay where I can see you." TenTen relented. The blond nodded and jumped off the porch and landed, right before teleporting away.

"What the? Damn it Naruto!" She cursed under her breath.

'_I get the feeling that TenTen's going to be pissed at me when I get back, oh well.' _Naruto thought to himself as he gave a chakra infusion to his clone. Wouldn't do to pass out from information overload in the middle of an enemy base after all.

**Gato's Compound (Three hours later)**

Haku wasn't quite sure what to make of the scene before her. Something or someone had effectively slaughtered all of Gato's thugs. There was never more than one cut on any of the bodies or any signs of struggle. Admittedly, this wasn't really a stretch for a ninja to do. But, besides herself and Zabuza-sama, the only ninja around was the Konoha team and Konoha just didn't do things like this. Especially not Genin teams.

"Hey Yuki-san." A familiar voice halted her thoughts.

"You!" Haku said whirling around and throwing a senbon. The blond dodged easily.

"Yeah me, well not really I'm a clone. Boss figured you or Zabuza would be here eventually so left me behind to convince you to call off the hit. Gato's dead and his bank accounts are already drained into Konoha and Wave. There's no money in it so there's no reason to fight now." The blond said stepping out from the shadows.

"I will inform Zabuza-sama of this development. Can I ask you one question though?" The ice user asked.

"Sure, no guarantee I'll answer though." The whiskered boy said.

"Why did you do this? Konoha doesn't operate like this. This like something Kiri or Iwa would do." The brown-eyed girl stated.

"Well, we don't now, but we used to back during the wars. But to really understand, Yuki, let me explain something. About roughly 80% of Konoha either considers me a demon or hates what I represent. I grew up in something approaching total isolation. About 2 years back I found these old guys, they took me in and taught me everything I know about being a ninja. These old guys? They were former ANBU and they were there during the wars, all three of them.

"And they did shit like this all the time. That's why I did it, because of my training. Gato was a threat, it wouldn't matter if we beat you and Zabuza or not, he would just keep coming. I did it because it got the job done." Naruto answered.

"I see, then you have precious people?" The senbon user asked.

"What the hell are you talking about?" The blue-eyed boy asked blinking.

"People who are important to you, people you would die for."

"I have a lot of people I would die for. I'm a loyal ninja after all. But I think living for someone shows more love than dying for them." The blond answered.

"Perhaps you are right." Haku said with a shrug. She was a tool, for her the difference was largely academic.

"Yuki, I answered your question, can you answer mine?" The clone asked. Haku nodded.

"Why serve Zabuza? I mean, no offense, but you don't really seem like his type of person."

"What do you know of the blood line purges?" The brown-eyed girl asked. Considering that he had shared something of himself Haku felt it fair to answer. Besides, she felt that he would understand.

"In Kiri? Not a hell of a lot. For whatever reason when the Sandaime Mizukage took over, he began to move against the established bloodline clans. This ended up with a civil war in Mist and it's only in the last few years or so that things have stabilized there." The chakra construct answered.

"That is essentially correct, but just like Konoha considers you a demon, so was I for possessing a bloodline. In the Land of Water, bloodlines are hated and feared. I was born a normal person but my mother was a former ninja from a now lost clan. My father, when he found out, gathered the villagers, killed my mother, and tried to murder me. I killed all of them but by then it was too late. No one wanted me..." Haku said.

"Until Zabuza found you, took you in, and gave you a purpose." The clone finished in understanding.

Haku nodded with a sad smile. Sometimes Haku wondered what the hell was wrong with humanity.

"Hopefully we'll meet as friends someday Yuki-chan." The construct said preparing to dispel.

"I'm a boy!" The cross dressing girl shouted.

"Yeah, no... I call bullshit ciao!" The clone said dispelling.

'_How did he know I was lying?'_ Haku was indeed female, running a rather complicated double bluff because A) Zabuza said to and B) Kuinoichi especially, ones without a village often ended up either broken and sold into the sex trade, or just raped to death, and tossed in a ditch. At least in the circles Zabuza operated in.

Haku shook her head, no help for it. Still, the blond seemed like the type to keep a secret, hell they didn't know each other's names.

**Tazuna's**

"Naruto-baka what in the hell were you thinking!" TenTen shouted.

"This was most unyouthful!" Lee agreed with equal fervour.

"Fate or not, it wasn't wise to tempt it like that." Neji was more subdued, mostly he was pissed that Naruto had left without telling them and setting off Lee and TenTen.

"Naruto-kun, a word privately?" Gai asked. The two went into a small storage room and locked the door.

"Sir." Naruto stood ramrod straight at a parade ready stance.

"At ease, Genin." The bowl cut Jonin said. The whiskered boy relaxed a millimetre.

Watching the boy, Gai realized that Naruto wasn't a standard Genin filled with idealistic dreams of saving princesses and destroying evil villains. Naruto was more like the rookie of an elite unit. Competent and well versed with the realities of the world. But still unsure of himself or his comrades. Say what you will about his fashion sense, but Gai wasn't stupid.

"Explain yourself." He began calmly.

"Sir, mission orders are to eliminate any and all threats to the client. The best way to do so was to eliminate Gato and his forces. During your convalescence, I gathered the information needed to do so. Once I was sure you were recovered, I moved to take care of the problem. I admit I lied to TenTen-san and defied your orders, but I have acted entirely within protocol otherwise." The blond said.

"Understood, but why did you do it yourself? Protocol does allow for solo missions but nowhere does it recommend doing so." The spandex clad man said his tone held a mild reproof.

"With all due respect sir, your team is a heavy combat team with an emphasis on melee combat, not a stealth team with an assassination speciality. They weren't suited for the mission." The blue-eyed boy stared defiantly ahead.

"And because of your training under Squad 13 you believe you are? Naruto-kun there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. You crossed, it yes my team isn't particularly suited to that kind of work. That does not give you authorization to go and do whatever you feel is necessary. What happens if say you mess up, get injured? Die? If you had come to me with the mission, I would have allowed it, provided I was there to keep you alive.

"You may have some of the best training in the world for this kind of thing, but you are still a rookie and need to learn that ranks aren't just for unyouthful pissing contests. Regardless of how some view us, we are still a military organization and you do not get to do whatever your fires of youth decide is a good idea at the time. Next time, talk to your superiors before you go off and perform actions." Surprisingly, Gai kept his tone calm the entire time.

"Understood sir." Naruto took the rebuke stoically.

Internally was another matter. The blond was thrown in to doubt. He had always been taught to get the mission done without concerns about how. Yet Gai had a point, he, Naruto Uzumaki, was a very junior person in the Ninja forces. Albeit someone with good connections, but still just a Genin. Given the horror stories that his senseis had told him about arrogant and cocky Genin, Chunin and even some Jonin nearly killing everyone because they went off like a loose cannon. Naruto was left with the realization that he was indeed a dumbass on this mission.

"Good, now despite that, good job. You did disobey orders and will receive a demerit for that but provided that the mission is successful I'll also put in commendation for initiative." The youth obsessed Jonin said lightening the mood.

"Thank you sir! " Naruto said with a slight smile.

"Now, since you skipped your jutsu training, we must make up for it with more youthful training!" 'Quiet Gai' had disappeared.

"Yes sir." The blond said with a sigh…he had heard about Gai's training obsession before.

**Konoha Underground (Night of the Zabuza fight)**

Squad 13 had, without much trouble, infiltrated Root's underground base. The tongue seals, although effective against allowing the ROOT to speak against Danzo, were much less effective against writing the stuff out or for things that the seal didn't affect, like the entrance to the underground base. The problem with seals is that they do exactly what you tell them to no more or less.

"Danzo you worthless piece of shit! You fucked up at Diruka and now you steal from the dead?" Jin shouted as Danzo ambushed them revealing his Sharigan.

"Now, now, Jin Diruka was a tragic accident. As for the arm and the eye, well Shishui no longer need them, now did he?" The old and, in his own mind anyway, cunning man said.

"Danzo...you were an idiot thirty years ago and now you're a bigger one. I kicked your ass once and I can do it again, mystical faith in the Sharigan be damned!" The huge genjutsu user said.

"I can see you're every movement---"Danzo was interrupted with a kunai to the heart.

"Idiot, the Sharigan reads chakra, manipulating my own to mess with that is easy." Jin said.

"Hey Jin, you should take a look at this." Shin called from the desk.

"What is it?" The dark haired man asked.

"Just read." The tattooed man said giving Jin a folder.

"That…monster!" The genjutsu user said after reading the file.

"Yeah, it makes Orochimaru's shit look almost normal. At least Orochimaru never turned people into human cattle in order to create an alternate food supply." Shin spit at the ground.

"There's more!" The short man called, looking up from another file.

"What do you mean Rikimaru?" The others members of squad 13 asked.

"Both the clan councils and the Village Elders seem to be in on this plan, funnelling undesirables or troublesome individuals into this program. Hell, in the last five years alone they've killed a small village trying to create viable Uchiha clones. There's even a plan to put the Hyuuga heiress in this program. Apparently it was vetoed for being too high profile, along with Naruto."

"Looks like they arranged for the shinobi to 'die' on missions and for the civilians to disappear from merchant caravans, or during the festivals." The bald man answers.

"Fuck…alright whatever happens we need to get this to Sarutobi." Jin says.

"Intruders!" A ROOT ANBU had the misfortune to call out right before he found his eye, heart, and neck pierced by a kunai.

"Damn it all...Full wartime fighting from here on in guys. Hit 'em hard and fast!" Jin said.

The team made their way through the base. Doing what they did best, killing. Using years of experience and skill to dispatch whomever got in the way. But skill is not armour, experience not immortality. Slowly but surely age caught up with them, slowing them down and sapping their strength.

Near the catacombs that provided entrance to ROOT headquarters, Squad 13 finally slowed down, pausing to catch their breath. All of them were littered with cuts and Rikimaru had a nasty wound on his shoulder. Yet still more ROOT kept coming.

"Not what we were, boss." Shin comments cynically outside the gate used as an entrance to the base.

"Keep going." Jin says stoically.

"Someone's got to slow them down." The ponytailed man says.

"I'm not letting any of you make some sort of damn heroic sacrifice so that the others can survive!"

"You know it's gotta be done Boss." The ninjutsu expert says.

"Shin…" Rikimaru says, bowing his head, acknowledging the sacrifice that his friend was about to make.

"Don't worry; I got something that'll keep them down." Shin said stepping through the gate and hitting the close mechanism.

"SHIN!" Jin shouted, pounding on the door.

"Come Jin, we have to go." Rikimaru placed his good arm on his friend's shoulder.

"Damn it, we're not leaving him behind!"

"Then we all die Jin, we've done this before."

"Fuck lets go, but I swear to God that I'm murdering every one of those motherless bastards that supported Danzo myself!" Jin said after gathering himself.

"I'll help, always have."

**Other Side of the Door**

"All right boys, welcome to S-class jutsu 101! Today's lesson is the Kaen-ken no Kami. Allow me to demonstrate!" Shin said, still smiling.

The ROOT base had a single long entrance hallway with the vast majority of ROOT at one end and Shin at the other. As the gray haired man flashed through hand seals, he had one thought. '_Sorry guys, but this is the way it's got to be.'_

"Kaen-ken no Kami!" He whispered and a blast of fire in the shape of the sword flew from is body. The ensuing explosion killed everyone in the room and rocked Konoha.

Of the ROOT pursuit forces, indeed of Shin himself, nothing was left but ashes.

Techniques-

Hyoton: Aisu Yari: Ice Release: Ice Spear, a B-rank technique which launches two spears of ice at high velocity at a target.

Hyoton: Makyō Hyōshō: Ice Release: Demonic Ice Mirrors, an unranked technique (assumed A-rank) that surrounds the target with a dome of twenty one ice mirrors that the user can then use to attack from at super human speeds

Kaen-ken no Kami: Fire Blade of God: An S-rank technique that launches a massive sword shaped blast of fire towards a target. Notable for superheating the fire beyond anything a normal chakra barrier can protect against. Thus considered an anti army/fortress type jutsu.

A/N: And I'm back, sorry about taking so long to get this chapter out! New challenge for you folks in my profile. Not much to say about this chapter Read and Review. As always a huge thanks to DustBunnyQueen for betaing and any remaining mistakes are my own.


	7. Getting Away with Murder

Getting Away with Murder

**Scene Change (Time)**

'_internal monologue'_

**Tazuna's House**

"So today Naruto will undergo most youthful training in order to overcome his unyouthfullness while my adorable team guards Tazuna!" Maito Gai was back in insane mode. The team had come down for breakfast and the daily morning rant that Gai was famous for.

"Why do you even bother?" A petulant looking kid asked, coming down the stairs.

"Huh? Who's the kid?" Naruto asked looking up from a bowl of rice.

"That's Inari, my grandson." The old bridge builder said.

"Okay Inari, why bother with what?" The blond continued.

"Fighting! Gato's just going to kill you all!" Inari shouted. Misery loves company and Inari was miserable so yeah.

"I doubt it." Naruto dismissed the threat so causally that it infuriated Inari.

"He will you know!" The miserable little boy screamed.

"So I should have set him on fire too?" The blond asked.

"Fire is well known for killing undead." Neji, never one to miss a chance to mock someone, played along. What you didn't think he spent all his time angsting did you?

"But only certain kinds of undead, fire does jack shit against skeletons." The whiskered boy said stroking his chin sagely.

"I have no doubt that it will do the job. Not like he was a lich or anything." The Hyuuga replied.

"True, he went down like a little pig first time around; so I'm thinking a zombie like the really weak kind."

"If it is his fate to rise from the dead then you're probably right." The pale-eyed boy answered.

"What are you talking about?" Inari finally broke down. TenTen and Lee coincidentally seemed rather involved with Gai's speech, which was now on how not to set yourself on fire.

"Gato's dead Inari, along with most of his men. So go angst somewhere else." The blond answered going back to his bowl of rice.

"Yep they went down real nice; couple hundred clones a couple of kunai, a good nights work." Naruto said taking in the civilian's expression of disbelief.

"You're lying!" Inari shouted.

"What possible reason would I need to lie?" The whiskered boy asked slightly amused. Neji just gave a patented smirk.

"No matter how strong you are you can't beat someone like Gato!"

"Kid, you're beginning to annoy me." The whiskered boy growled and made a shooing motion.

"Stop lying!" The angsty boy said.

Now, Naruto prided himself on being calm and in control. He also prided himself on never lying about whom he killed. That wasn't professional after all.

Naruto whipped out a scroll, unsealed it and reveal Gato's head. It was noticeably missing the rest of his body.

"Why did you have his head in a scroll?" Neji asked calmly as the rest of the people, save Gai, stared in shock.

"Bounty for him in the capital." The blond said.

"Why?" TenTen asked. Bounties from the capital tended more towards traitors and people who had seriously harmed the Land of Fire.

"Probably part of that anti-drug thing a few years back." The whiskered boy answered.

"They are pathetic; it is their fate to crawl like worms." Neji said with an arrogant air.

"Ummm Naruto-san?" Tsunami said quietly.

"Yes Tsunami?" The blond said.

"PUT THAT AWAY!" The homemaker shouted an aura of death around her. Naruto quickly complied.

"Women are scary." The blue-eyed boy mumbled.

"All right my youthful pupils, let us go fan our flames of youth!" Gai said grabbing Naruto and running out the door.

"He's doomed isn't he?" TenTen asked.

"It is his fate." The predestination freak said calmly.

"Ice cold as always, ehh Neji?" The weapons mistress asked shaking her head. Neji didn't answer.

"Come on you brats, we have a long day of work ahead of us." Tazuna said leaving Inari and Tsunami alone.

**Hokage Tower**

"I knew they were up to something, but I didn't think it had gone this far." Sarutobi grimaced looking over the files.

"Yeah well, we should have killed him when we had the chance." The huge man said without emotion.

"Jin, we've been over this; it wasn't prudent to kill him." Hiruzen said.

"And now Shin's dead and this village is more compromised than an Uchiha's psyche." Jin commented laconically.

"True, a lot of people in positions of power have misused that power. Are you and Rikimaru capable of one last mission?" The Sandaime asked.

"What is it?"

"I want them all dead. I'm going to arrange a formal reception to draw them all out. The methods I leave to you." Hiruzen said.

"All right, me and Riki were going to call on all of them anyway." The bespectacled man said.

"This is a black op, if you're discovered I will disavow you. Too many of these people have connections to the Daimyo to prevent it."

"Fucking politics. Sarutobi if something happens; the complex and everything in it goes to Naruto, alright?" Jin asked.

"Of course, I wouldn't dream of dispossessing squad 13's heir." The old kage said. _'That, and I don't need to give Naruto any possible reason to go on a revenge kick...he has too many as it is.' _ The thought wasn't spoken, but understood by both.

"When's the reception?" The former ANBU asked.

"A week from now, it'll be played as a life goes on sort of thing."

"All right, see you Sarutobi." The huge man said turning to leave.

"Jin are you okay?" The Sandaime asked. All joking aside, something seemed off about Jin as if he had lost himself and didn't know it yet.

"I'm fine why do you ask?" The genjutsu user asked.

"You seem different."

"Just a lot on my mind, later." Jin said leaving the Tower.

"Things never get any easier. Naruto, grow up so I can give this job to you and retire." Sarutobi muttered to himself.

**Reception (1 week since the raid)**

"They're all here." Rikimaru said.

Infiltrating the reception had been child's play for the two men. The ANBU had been forced to give the appearance of not being there, meaning that the guard at the door was just a Chuunin. The public relations aspect had weakened security significantly. They were both dressed as sweepers. No one thinks about janitors after all.

"Good, got the agent?" Jin asked in a low voice that barely carried far enough to Rikimaru's ear.

"Yeah." The scarred man said.

"Let's get this party started." The other man said.

"A shame about Danzo, ehh Sarutobi?" Koharu said with sigh.

"Yes well it's always sad to see someone die." The Sandaime said diplomatically.

"Still, it's rather suspicious that none of our ANBU could catch them." The old woman quipped.

"Well skill makes up for quantity doesn't it? Too bad we lowered the admission standards after the attack." Hiruzen said shaking his head.

"Sarutobi, we needed the numbers." The bitter woman said.

"So you and the Daimyo say." The gray haired Kage said.

"Let's talk about something else." Homura said sipping some sake.

"So what do you think of the proposal to turn the Uchiha district into a shrine?" Koharu asked her former teammates.

"We already pander to those Uchiha loving bastards enough, forget it." Homura said with some ire.

"With the recent disturbance, it might be a good idea to do something." The old woman said shaking her head.

"How about an upgrade of the Tower, to show us moving forward?" The other Village elder asked.

"Upgrade it how? As it is we just need more storage room and we build those underground." Hiruzen interjected. The other two shrugged.

"Remarkably good sake tonight. New caterers?" Homura asked trying to turn things to lighter topics.

"No, but I think they found a new supplier." The Sandaime said snagging a hors d'oeuvre off a nearby snack tray.

"Vetted, of course." Koharu said taking some for herself.

"Of course, my ANBU aren't incompetent." Hiruzen said with a wry smile.

"Sometimes I wonder."

"Well if I didn't have to keep funding your little pet projects maybe I could afford to give them better training. Too bad those are absolutely vital for the village's security." The grey haired Kage said wistfully.

"What are you saying Sarutobi?" Koharu asked, only years of training keeping her and Homura from breaking out into a panic.

Did he know what they were up to? Had they just been deluding themselves this entire time? Had Sarutobi played them like puppets when they were supposed to be the puppet masters? These questions whirled around in the elders' heads.

"Oh just commenting on things I've noticed. How do you like the new band my assistant hired? A bit too avant-garde for my tastes." Hiruzen said breezily. If there was one thing you learned to enjoy being a high-level ninja, it was fucking with people's heads.

"They play nicely enough, though the brass section needs work." Homura recovered first.

"Hokage-sama, Elders how are you?" Kessei Haruno asked. Head of the local tailor's guild, Kessei had some power but was still very much a small fish in a big pond. The small talk continued long into the night.

**Konoha (Following Night)**

"Phase 2 begins now." Jin singled in sign language.

"Hai." Rikimaru responded in the same way.

Konoha had no central reservoir to feed its need for water. Rather, each district had its own reservoir well hidden and guarded. The clans, of course, had their own reservoirs, as did the Hokage and ANBU headquarters. Clan security was noticeably laxer compared to the others. With the Uchiha gone the Hyuuga had become the most powerful. And the oft feared war between the clans smothered before it began.

This would work to Rikimaru and Jin's advantage as they put the second part of the nerve agent into the clan's water supply. They moved silently and swiftly, making sure to do the same to all those involved in Danzo's schemes.

The nerve agent itself was a nasty thing. It required two parts, having just one or the other wouldn't do anything and would fade away in a month or so. Having both shut down the central nervous system, mimicking a seizure. Those innocent had not been invited to the reception, the Hokage citing that he knew them well but wanted to get to know some of his other colleagues. Meaning that besides Sarutobi himself, Jin and Rikimaru had no worries about collateral causalities.

Over the next few nights they made sure to contaminate at least one reservoir per night with the agent usually managing two.

It had been a week and Konoha was in an uproar, 50 people had died all of the same mysterious seizure. What was left of the Konoha Police Force thought that it was a serial killer with a strange jutsu. Sarutobi allowed himself a thin smile as he looked over the reports. Try to take over his village will they? To hell with them. Still, this left him with a problem; the traitors, although none of them by themselves worth anything, had left a rather large hole in the political infrastructure with their deaths.

Thus a political fight, as vicious and heartless as any, broke out. Friendships were ruined and people betrayed. But as the dust began to settle, Sarutobi was left as the undisputed master of Konoha. Just the way he liked it.

**Complex (1 week since the assassinations)**

"It's done; we got all of those bastards." Jin said with a savage satisfaction.

"What now Jin?" Rikimaru asked handing over a beer. The stuff came out of the north and both had acquired a taste for it during the second war.

"We keep going on Riki; for Shin and Naruto. Bring in Naruto as part owner of the place." The huge man said taking a long chug.

"Kid's going to be devastated." The shorter man said with scowl.

"I know but what else could we do? Shin made his choice. Not a good one, maybe not even the best one, but the one he felt was right." The black haired man said. His own voice tinged with a slight bitterness.

Killing the traitors had helped, but it still hurt.

"Yeah but that doesn't mean it'll be any easier for the kid. As professional as he is I doubt he's ever thought of us dying before." Rikimaru said thinking back to when their own senseis had died. All of them were orphans and losing a sensei had been, in many ways, like losing a father.

"True, there's a huge difference between knowing someone will die and understanding it." The bespectacled man agreed.

"How we going to help him?" The scarred taijutsu user asked.

"The same way Sarutobi helped us when sensei died."

"Get him drunk off his rocker?" Rikimaru said with a chuckle.

"He's a big boy now, he can handle himself." Jin said with a shrug.

"Fair enough, Sake or something a little harder?" The bald man asked.

"I think some of that shincho stuff will do. Doesn't taste too bad and gives a fairly decent buzz." The huge man said knocking back the rest of his beer.

"Not whiskey?" Rikimaru said finishing off his own drink.

"Nah, want him to have few before he goes unconscious, not pass out after one shot." Jin said.

"Hai." The scarred man said as they both cracked open another bottle.

**Tazuna's (Night after the Raid)**

Naruto was tired, and sore. Healing ability be damned, arms weren't supposed to bend that way! Still, he had picked up a few things. Like the realization that Gai and Lee were obviously not human to go through that sort of thing every day, and a nifty new way of hurting himself.

"Hey everybody, time for some super sake!" Tazuna shouted slamming the door open.

"Father they're kids!" Tsunami hissed.

"Old enough to kill old enough to drink." Naruto said with a shrug, he hadn't had any himself but his senseis seemed to like it.

"Newbie!" TenTen hissed.

"What?" The blond replied.

"Lee can't have alcohol." The weapon mistress said.

"Oh, sorry man I didn't know." The whiskered boy said with a shrug.

"Yes, I must stay away from unyouthful alcohol or else I apparently cause massive amounts of property damage." Lee said in his usual fashion.

Fact was, Lee didn't remember a thing after his benders and so at first suspected that it was joke and refused to believe that he had caused that much damage. That was until Gai and the Hokage had in no uncertain terms banned him from ever drinking alcohol.

"Too bad then. Never drank myself, but I've heard that it's fun." The blue-eyed boy said with a wry smile.

"You idiot." The brown haired girl huffed.

"Why do they shout? Why?" Naruto whined.

"I do not know, it is our fate to suffer, just I have suffered." Neji said beginning his weekly fate rant.

"Don't care." The blond said.

"Bastard." The Hyuuga prodigy muttered. No one interrupts fate, no one!

"Dinner!" Tsunami called.

The group sat down and began eating Inari was suspiciously absent.

"So Naruto-kun, are you ready for more youthful training tomorrow?" Gai asked.

"Yes, my most youthful sensei has shown me the ways of youth. I shall be happy to travel farther down the path." Naruto said trying to use reverse psychology. He just wished it didn't make him feel so wrong.

"I see. Naruto-kun you have truly made me proud and learned the ways of youth, thus you shall guard Tazuna tomorrow while I train my adorable Lee!" The bowl cut Jonin shouted.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee began to shout.

"Lee-kun!" Gai continued, starting one of the more disturbing routines of Konoha again.

*Thwack* TenTen showed her displeasure.

"Sorry." The blond said, pulling his head up from its newfound place on the ground.

"You should know better." The brown-eyed girl said stalking off.

After dinner was over Naruto decided to take a mental break and made his way to the roof. Pulling out a block of wood and knife the boy began carving.

"Hey Newbie." TenTen said wanting answers.

"Yes TenTen?" The whiskered boy asked.

"Why did you lie to me the other night, we could have helped you." The bun haired girl said with a bit of anger in her voice.

"Infiltration and killing are my specialities TenTen, yours aren't. This team is designed around heavy melee combat." Naruto said with a shrug.

"We're ninjas; we can sneak just as well as you!" The weapon mistress said her temper rising.

"No you can't." The blond said shaking his head.

"Just because you were trained by your senseis doesn't make you better than us!" TenTen said gritting her teeth.

How dare this....nobody, act like he was better than her team. It was bad enough when Neji acted superior to her. Tenten wasn't going to let anyone else talk to her like that.

"No, it makes me worse than you, because all of you have a future. Mine is to die somewhere for the greater good of Konoha. I accept that and if I can keep you innocent for a little longer then it was worth it." The blue-eyed boy said with a wry smile.

"What the hell are you talking about?" TenTen said thrown by the apparent non-sequitur.

"TenTen, how many times have you killed?" The blond asked.

"A few times, ninjas kill to protect; it's part of the job." The weapon mistress said.

"During battle though right?" Naruto continued.

"Yeah." The brown haired kuinoichi said slowly.

"I went and murdered 300 people last night, not because it was the right thing to do but because it was the best way to complete the mission with minimal casualties to Konoha." The blond said.

"I don't understand." The brown-eyed girl said her eyes narrowing.

"I didn't kill them in battle, I cut them down in cold blood, the same way one kills a cockroach. Wasn't really real to me until after it was done, they never had a chance." Naruto said shaking his head.

An uneasy silence fell over them for a time. TenTen wondering what her blond comrade was getting at and Naruto wondering if he had said too much. Finally the sounds of steel scraping on wood became too much and TenTen spoke.

"Newbie...you don't have to do everything yourself."

"I know; I choose to." The blond said standing up and leaving.

"Arrogant prick." The bun haired girl scowled.

"No TenTen-chan, he's trying to justify himself." Gai said coming up to tell TenTen she had first watch.

"Gai-sensei?" The weapon mistress gave a start.

"Naruto-kun is very skilled but he has no purpose of his own. To protect Konoha is a goal we all have but his own personal drive isn't there. You wish to become as strong as Tsunade of the Sannin, Neji wishes to prove that he is stronger than the main branch, and Lee will become a splendid ninja using only Taijutsu. You all have something to fight for. Tell me, what does Naruto want?" Gai asked.

"I don't know." TenTen admitted, Naruto was remarkably skilled at saying nothing at all while still talking.

"Until you do, do not judge him in such an unyouthful manner." The green clad man said holding his chin in a supposedly wise fashion.

"Hai Gai-sensei...how do you know Naruto's like that?" The brown haired girl asked.

"I know the men who trained him and know how they think. They are utterly focused on doing whatever the mission requires. Naruto has absorbed the same mindset, but lacks a team that shares it to keep him stable." The bowl cut Jonin said.

"I'll think about it Gai-sensei." The weapon mistress said.

"Yes, you must not let your youthful flames flicker over jealousy!" And just like that, Gai reverted back into the Youth Master.

"Hai Sensei." TenTen said sighing.

**The Following week (Bridge)**

"Your team did super well but with Gato no longer around I think we'll be okay." Tazuna said with a grin. A crowd of villagers stood behind Tazuna to see Team Gai off.

"If you are certain Tazuna-san." Gai said with a sceptical look. The client had the right to dismiss shinobi at any time, but it wasn't something done often.

"Hey blond guy." Inari said from beside his grandfather.

"Yeah kid?" Naruto turned and looked at the kid.

"Why'd you kill Gato?" The small boy asked.

"Had to be done. I don't know what your problem is kid; but if you don't face your problems then what's the point?" The blond answered.

"Point?" Inari asked blinking.

"We all have problems but if we don't face them then they control us, robbing us of purpose." The whiskered boy said remembering Jin's own thoughts on the subject.

"What's your purpose then?" The black-eyed little boy asked.

"To get the job done and keep Konoha safe." Naruto answered.

"Thanks, Naruto nii-san." Inari said after a few moments.

Inari, in the space of a week, had his entire worldview changed. The sight of the one man that he had thought invincible, dead because of a ninja had shaken him. Inari began to wonder if it had been the villagers fault and not Kaiza's that the man had died. This line of thinking eventually led to Inari deciding to change, to prove that he was worthy of Kaiza's sacrifice. The best way in Inari's mind to do that was to find out what make the blond guy so strong.

"Nii-san? Alright kid, drop me a line in Konoha when you get the chance. Find Ichikaru's they'll know where to find me." The blond said with a small chuckle.

"Hai Nii-san!" Inari said giving his version of a salute.

"Nii-san?" TenTen whispered as they left.

"Let the kid think what he wants." Naruto replied with a shrug.

"So what should we name the bridge?" Tsunami wondered out loud.

"Tazuna's Super Special Mega Awesome Bridge of course." The old bridge builder said proudly.

"Dad!" The homemaker said sternly.

"Fine, what do you want to call it then?" Tazuna said sulking.

"I don't know, how about the Hope Bridge? Because it's the hope of Wave." The black haired homemaker said after a moment.

"Nii-san was the one who made sure that Gato wouldn't hurt grandpa right? Should the bridge be named after him?" Inari spoke up.

"The Uzumaki Bridge ehh? I like it." Tazuna said after a moment.

"I was thinking the Great Naruto Bridge." Inari said with smile.

"The great fish paste bridge? That's just silly; no I think the Uzumaki Bridge will do just fine." The bridge builder said.

"Hey, who's this Uzumaki guy anyway?" One of the villagers asked.

"Well you know that someone took out Gato's camp right?" Tazuna said.

"Yeah..."

"Naruto Uzumaki is the guy who did it, freeing us from Gato's tyranny. He also gave us half of the treasury." The bridge builder explained, absently wishing for his bottle of sake.

"Really?" The villager asked.

"Yep."

The villagers, at that point, began discussing the new Hero of Wave and thus the legend of Naruto Uzumaki began.

"Heh...you may have been a jackass Uzumaki, but somehow you still managed to save Wave. Kami, I need a drink." Tazuna said as the villagers made their way home.

"DAD!" Tsunami scowled.

**Konoha (3 weeks since the assassinations) **

"All right good job, you are dismissed; except I need Naruto to stay here for a moment." The Sandaime said, feeling that it was best that he break the news to Naruto personally.

"What's up Jiji?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto when you left I gave squad 13 an unofficial mission to investigate Danzo. Danzo was, during the war and immediately afterward, in charge of a special ANBU program known as 'Ne' or 'ROOT' although he personally preferred 'The Foundation'. After the war I ordered it disbanded.

"Two days before your mission began Shin found one of these ROOT near the complex. On their own initiative, Squad 13 investigated and discovered where Danzo's base was. They went to me and got my 'unofficial' permission to investigate the base and bring back any evidence so that we could get rid of Danzo once and for all." Hiruzen said.

"Yeah and?" The blond said uneasy.

"Naruto, during that mission Shin stayed behind to hold off ROOT ANBU while Rikimaru and Jin extracted themselves. I'm sorry Naruto, Shin's dead." The Third said with a depressing finality.

A/N: Sorry about the time it took to get this out I've had writers block pretty bad since school started. A big thanks to DustBunnyQueen who managed to beta this chapter even after some flood issues.

Next: Naruto deals with death, Sakura deals with death and Kakashi deals with Gai. I'm not sure who to feel more sorry for.


	8. Move Along

**Hokage's Office**

"You're joking right? Tell me you joking Jiji, please tell me you're joking!" Naruto said, his blue eyes filled with a quiet desperation.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but Shin Tadakoro is dead. Your other teachers are having the service in 3 days. They were waiting until your return." Hiruzen said gently.

"How?" Naruto asked, his hands balling into fists.

"As I said, Shin volunteered to take the rear guard. What exactly happened afterward is not known save he used an S-ranked fire jutsu. This jutsu killed the pursuit force but also incinerated Shin himself." The Sandaime answered.

"Why would he do that...Why dammit?!" The blond shouted.

"I'm not sure, but Shin made a sacrifice for his friends and the mission. We have to respect that." Sarutobi said, inwardly impressed that Naruto hadn't destroyed anything yet.

"No, not that, why was it ever an issue in the first place Jiji? Why did they have to go back out? Why?" The whisker boy demanded, slamming his palms on the desk causing the wood to crack.

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow at the damage to his old desk but understood what Naruto wanted and so began to speak.

"The story begins years ago before Konoha was founded. When the Senju and the Uchiha made peace, they did so using a mediator Hidetada Hojo. Hidetada would become great friends with both Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. This, in turn, led to Hidetada lending his great skill at diplomacy when Hashirama united the clans to form Konohagakure. Hidetada's negotiations and promises would eventually form Konoha's clan laws. Hidetada was subsequently on the first council of elders in the Shodai's time.

"Hidetada, in addition to being a brilliant diplomat, was also known as a great lover of women. He had a number of dalliances, most of these never produced issues. However one did, a woman by the name of Junko gave birth to a son. The son was named Danzo and he was sent to Konoha to become a ninja. Hidetada, although bound by custom and tradition, did right by Danzo as much as he could. Helping Danzo with the best shinobi tutors and occasionally greasing the wheels for promotions.

"Danzo was eventually assigned to a military post on the border with Suna along with your senseis. They were to keep the peace and keep Suna honest. It didn't work out that way. What exactly happened only your senseis know, but the post was wiped out along with a group of Suna ninja. This would lead to the Second Great Shinobi War.

"In the aftermath, Danzo was disgraced but Hidetada saved his son from paying the ultimate price. Danzo quietly faded into the background during the war. Afterwards, Danzo became my rival for the position of Sandaime. We fought and I crippled him. The Nidaime, at the request of Hidetada put Danzo once more in a position of leadership at a place called Diruka. Your senseis were assigned to keep watch on him.

"Danzo, seeing his chance to redeem himself, began to move aggressively trusting in the strength of Konoha to carry him to victory. Using his men to hunt down and destroy bandits and missing ninja. At one point, Danzo chased after some missing ninja across the border with Iwa. This in turn provoked a massive reprisal from Iwa. Instead of facing them, Danzo ran leaving Squad 13 to defend the place and take the blame for what happened. Once again, Squad 13 survived gutting the initial invasion force using a series of traps. They managed to hold out until I was able to relieve them.

"I broke Danzo after that, and it took all of Hidetada's remaining political power to save the man from death. However, Danzo managed to spin his tale in such a way as the Daimyo decided to give him control of Ne, which I ordered disbanded immediately after the war. Nevertheless, Danzo managed to emerge as an experienced military commander with a pragmatic no-nonsense view of the world. Thus, he became a leader for the factions that opposed my policies.

"During the brief rule of the Yondaime, Danzo hung around in the background not doing much. But after the Kyuubi attack, he and few others moved quickly to grab as much power as they could. I took most of it back when I resumed being the Hokage. Danzo was able, with the help of my two former teammates, to restart Ne. Your senseis found out and took exception. Leading to Shin's death." The Sandaime finished.

"So you're telling me that one of the people that I trusted most is dead because of some dead bastard saving his bastard using other old bastards instead of letting him die?" Naruto said his voice hard.

"A bit more complex than that but essentially yes." Hiruzen said giving Naruto a level stare.

"I would like to request permission to kill all of those who were involved with Danzo." The blond said, his eyebrow twitching slightly to show just how much he wanted this.

"As much as I like seeing my successor go on a roaring rampage of revenge I'm going to have to say no. Your senseis have already done that." The Sandaime replied.

"Damn." The whiskered boy cursed.

"Naruto, for what it's worth I am sorry that it turned out this way." Hiruzen said standing up.

"Then why didn't you do anything after Diruka?" Naruto said bitterly.

"I couldn't; I was in the middle of a war Naruto I couldn't afford to lose Hidetada's and by extension the Clan's support. Maybe the Yondaime should have done something after the war, maybe I should have, but we can't change that now." The Sandaime answered his eyes never leaving Naruto's.

"You should have." The blond said, his face contorted into a scowl.

"Naruto go to your senseis. When you're ready to think rationally, come talk to me. You have the rest of the week off." Hiruzen knew when to retreat.

"Understood Sir." Naruto said making a picture perfect salute before storming out of the place.

"Well that could have gone better." The old Kage muttered.

"Sir?" The secretary called from outside.

"Yes Chizu?" The Sandaime asked.

"Naruto just stormed out of here and he broke one of the doors, should I charge him for it?"

"No, he just found out one of his teachers died. I think Konoha can afford a door." Hiruzen said with a wry tone.

"Yes Sir." Chizu just sighed and got back to work.

**Complex**

"You've heard." Rikimaru said as Naruto stormed into the building. The older man was sitting at the table informally used as the dining table for the group.

"Yeah." The blond replied.

"Pull up a seat." The bald man said gesturing to an empty chair.

Naruto did so sitting down with a bitter grimace on his face.

"You're angry." Rikimaru said calmly.

"Damn straight I'm angry. Shin-sensei is dead all because nobody had the balls to kill this Danzo bastard when we had the chance." The whiskered boy shouted.

"Is that all?" The scarred man said calmly.

"What do you mean?" Naruto said nonplussed.

"I mean that your anger's not really directed at Danzo or Sarutobi or anyone except you and Shin." The short man answered with a look.

"What are you talking about?" The blond was really confused now.

"You're angry that you weren't there that you couldn't help. You're angry at Shin because he left. So was I right afterward. I was barely able to keep my cool and drag Jin out of there." Rikimaru said with a far off look.

"I'm not angry at Shin-sensei." The whiskered Genin growled.

"Sure you are, the man was the reason we took you in. Teaches you all sorts of things and then has the gall to die? Why wouldn't you be angry at him?" The scarred man asked.

"NO I'M NOT!" Naruto shouted.

"Fine." The bald taijutsu user said with a shrug. A long silence occurred between them.

"I'm not." The blond muttered after a bit.

"I agreed with you." Rikimaru said nodding.

"So then why do I want to punch his face in?" The whiskered boy finally asked.

"I can't say seeing as how you're not angry with him. If I had to guess, it probably stems from feeling betrayed. There was always an unspoken assumption between all of us that we would be there for each other. Shin broke that trust." The old man answered, for once looking every one of his years.

"Hai." Naruto said agreeing.

"He had his reasons." The scarred man said calmly.

"What reasons could be worth his death." Naruto said his anger having exhausted itself on the way home.

"'No greater love hath a man than this, that a man may lay down his life for his friends.' Naruto, we weren't going to get out of there. Shin knew that and made the choice to get the rest of us out." The bald taijutsu master answered.

"I still don't like it." The blond said at last.

"You don't have to. Just understand it." The scarred man said taking out a deck of playing cards. The two started playing Black Jack. Naruto as usual won more often than not.

"How come you're so calm Rikimaru-sensei?" The whiskered boy asked finally.

"I've had a bit of time to deal with things for the most part. But really comes down to something Shin said to me around the same time as the third war. 'When I die I want to take a lot of bastards with me'. I can't blame him for dying on his own terms." The bald man said dealing another hand.

"That doesn't make it right." The blue-eyed boy said looking at his hand and deciding to stand.

"Doesn't it? We're ninja; death defines us like nothing else. There are a lot of ways to die; Shin took the best way for him. Odds are that me and Jin will pull something similar one of these days, Sarutobi too." Rikimaru said going bust.

"What?" The blond asked surprised.

"Ninja aren't meant to die peacefully. Some do, but we aren't meant to. The best way to die is in battle make it mean something." The old taijutsu user said with a philosophical shrug.

"Enough of your pseudo-intellectual bullshit Riki." Jin said walking into the room holding a large brown bag.

"Jin-sensei, what's the liquor for?" Naruto asked as the older man pulled out a box filled with green bottles.

"Well, when we lost our sensei's we got stone cold drunk and remembered all the good times we had with them. We're going to do the same with you." The huge man answered.

"So what's this stuff?" The blond asked gesturing at the bottles.

"It's called Firewater and it's guaranteed to get anyone drunk. Most people can only drink one of these before getting alcohol poisoning. You should do just fine." The bespectacled man said.

It should be noted here that Firewater, as it was called, was nearly pure alcohol; sitting at 75% when most drinks hovered below 40%. Firewater was in taste somewhat similar to hard lemonade only much more intense. Suffice to say it got you drunk very fast and very hard under normal occasions.

"Tastes...not bad." Naruto said coughing after taking his first shot. Naruto was not normal.

"That's the spirit. Now I'll start us off. One time Shin, and I swear this is the truth, decided that he was going to prank every Kage. The crazy bastard infiltrated all the villages and dyed the Kage hats neon pink!" Rikimaru said laughing at Naruto's expression.

"You're kidding! And he got away with it?" The blond said his voice raspy.

"I remember that. Yeah he got away with it, although old man Tobirama was pissed. Okay I've got one..." Jin said smiling at the memory as he told his own story.

The trio continued to drink and remember their friend long into the night. Although the story telling eventually devolved into Rikimaru and Jin explaining the finer points on how to play strip poker with kuinoichi. Still, Naruto would awake with a pounding headache and a smile. It still hurt the blond to think of his crazy old teacher but he would remember the good times he and Shin had. Treasure them and maybe one day share to his children if he should be so lucky, his students if not. About a crazy old ninja who had seen and done more over his lifetime than anyone else would in several lives.

**Training Grounds **

Sakura punched at the log over and over again. It had been little under a month since her father had collapsed over the kitchen table. They had rushed to get him to a hospital but it was too late. Kessei Haruno was dead. Sakura scowled at the memory punching even harder. Watching her father go like that had been the hardest thing she had ever done.

She had cried for hours after that, he was the first person she had lost. Her grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, were all still alive. Hell, her bloody cat was still alive. She tried to remember what she had been taught, tried to control her emotions. It wasn't working. Sakura had stopped crying but she was always so angry these days. An old saying said that anger was depression turned outward. Sakura wondered if that was true.

"Hey." Naruto said walking into the clearing.

"Naruto." The pinkette said launching another punch.

"What's wrong?" The whiskered Genin asked.

"Nothing!" Sakura shouted. Naruto, for once showing tact, didn't comment on the fact that her body was tenser than a steel spring.

"Why are you beating up the log then?" The blue-eyed boy asked laconically.

"Training." The former fangirl said briskly.

"I'm on leave for a week you know, figured I help you out a bit. Keep myself busy." The blond commented with a shrug.

"Why?" Sakura asked. Ninjas rarely went on leave. Usually when they were close to burning out or had too much combat stress. Naruto was neither.

"Just have some stuff going on." The whiskered boy said.

'_You'll be on leave for a week Sakura, remember I'm here to talk if you need someone.' _Sakura remembered Kurenai telling her that nearly a month ago. The other reason ninja were put on leave was because they lost someone close to them, during peacetime anyway.

"Who died?" The pinkette asked turning away from the log and lowering her fists.

"Perceptive." Naruto said slightly impressed. "Shin-sensei." He answered.

"The guy Jin-san was tormenting?" The bookworm asked.

"Yeah...you lose someone too?" The blond asked, figuring that she saw something in him that she had seen before.

"My father's dead." Sakura said her faced marred by a frown.

"Huh, guess we both have a little more appreciation for the emo bitch." The blond said wishing he smoked. He could use a smoke right now.

"Don't call him that, it's insulting to my gender." The former fangirl growled.

"Pissed you off even more did he?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Let's just say, I'm not going invite him to anymore funerals." The green-eyed girl said.

"Still hurts though." The blond commented.

"Yeah, how are you so calm?" The former fangirl asked.

"Eh, I had a nice manly chat about things it helped a bit." The whiskered Genin answered with a wry smile at the events of last night. Firewater was good stuff no doubt about it.

"Oh, that's good." Sakura said.

"Yep." The blue-eyed boy agreed.

An uncomfortable silence fell between the two for a little while before Naruto spoke.

"My sensei's got me drunk last night. We proceeded to remember all the good times we had with Shin-sensei."

"So?" The green-eyed girl asked while mentally making a note to yell at Naruto later for being underage.

"I don't know your father but maybe you could tell me about him. Remember the good times?" The blond offered almost shyly.

"Okay...." Sakura agreed. A warm look made its way across her face as she talked about all the things she had loved about her father. Naruto just sat there and listened.

**Jonin Lounge**

"Hello Gai who did the mission go?" Kakashi asked looking up from his old copy of Icha Icha. The Hokage still hadn't allowed him to buy the new novel yet.

"Kakashi, I must speak to you privately about your youthful student." Gai said for once not shouting. The two made their way from the common room to one of the briefing rooms.

"What's up?" The silver haired Jonin asked.

"A youthful warning Kakashi. Naruto is no Genin." The youth obsessed Jonin answered.

"I know that." The copy-nin said, slightly annoyed at Gai telling him something he already knew.

"During the mission, he walked into a fortified camp filled with bandits in service of Gato. He walked out alive with them all dead." The turtle summoner said very calmly.

"How many?" The masked Jonin asked.

"I am uncertain as I didn't get a chance to do a body count. However, an unyouthful man like Gato would have needed dozens if not more to keep the land oppressed." The spandex wearing Jonin pointed out.

"Any injuries for Naruto?" Kakashi asked figuring as good as Naruto was he would have at least some problems. Guys like Gato usually hired one or two guards a cut above the common trash.

"None that I saw...there wasn't even blood on his clothes." The youth obsessed man answered.

"That's...pretty skilled for a kid. I don't think I could've pulled that off at his age and I was a Jonin." The silver haired man said, shaking his head slowly in amazement.

"Naruto-kun is a better killer than anyone I've ever seen. Only the unyouthful Itachi matches him." Gai frowned a bit at the thought.

"You're worried he might go down that path?" The silver haired man asked his tone for once serious.

"No my Eternal Rival, I fear something far worse. A Naruto without his humanity or hope, a Naruto that only lives for the next mission. That his youthful flames will disappear." The bowl cut man said his own face stern.

"What do you want me to do about it?" The one-eyed Jonin asked.

"I don't know my cool and hip rival. I'm just giving you a youthful warning. Now I must go train my adorable students." The green clad man shouted before running off.

"I'll never understand that man." Kakashi said shaking his head.

**Funeral (3 days later)**

It was cold windy day. As Naruto and a few others watched as Shin's name was put on the monument. There weren't many people only a dozen or so. Most of the people were the same age as Shin had been. The blond only listened with half an ear as the Sandaime made a small speech about duty an honour. His mind was somewhere else. Sakura had said her father had died along with the other people. In turn, that meant that he had been involved in whatever it was Danzo had been doing.

So the question was did he tell Sakura about her father? Part of him argued to tell her and let the pieces fall. Another, gentler part said not to. Then there was Shin, hell even saying the name caused his heart to hurt. Hinata had lost family too...but relations between Hinata and her extended family were, at best, described as tense.

The problem was that Naruto knew in his bones that his other mentors wouldn't be long for this world either. And he had no idea how he was going to deal with that. The blond was terrified of losing his adopted family, but death was one enemy that he couldn't beat. Stall yes but defeat? No.

His internal problems were shelved as he went through the formal process of honouring the dead. Soon after the ceremony was finished, the group retired to a teahouse. Much like three nights ago, they begin to talk about Shin.

"Naruto Uzumaki?" An old woman with long dark hair and grey eyes approached him.

"Hai." The blond answered looking at her. Subtle clues hinted that this woman was once a shinobi.

"My name is Ayane Suzimya; Shin told me to give this to you if something happened to him." She said. Ayane handed Naruto a small envelope.

"Thank you. Did you know Shin-sensei?" He asked.

"I did, we were in an arranged marriage once. My heart wasn't his though and when he saw that, he got the marriage formally annulled. We remained friends though. What about you Naruto Uzumaki?" The gray-eyed woman said.

"What about me?" The blond said nonplussed.

"How are you feeling? Shin mentioned once that you were all very close." Ayane answered.

"I think I'll be okay for now." The whiskered boy said a sad smile crossed his face.

"Good, come by my Dango shop if you ever need a woman's touch you hear?" The dark haired woman insisted.

"Hai Ayane-san." Naruto agreed knowing that arguing was pointless.

"Good, I owe it to Shin to keep you on the straight and narrow." She said.

"Thank you Ayane-san." The blue-eyed boy said with a slight bow.

"Just Ayane." The old woman said laughing as she walked away.

Naruto shook his head in bemusement. Why were old people always so odd? He wondered. Regardless, Naruto resolved to look at the envelope after the funeral.

**Letter**

'Dear Naruto,

If you are reading this than I went and did something crazy that got my ass killed. First things first, it wasn't yours or anyone else's fault. I made a choice and knew going into it that odds were one of us were going to die. I did it because it was the right thing. Me and the others don't really have much use for Bushido or anything like that because it interferes with the job. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try and be a good person off the job. It's too easy to be the bad man. It takes real strength to be the good man.

'Second: Laugh right now just laugh. You done? Good. I've seen far too many people turn into emo wannabes when they lose people. I don't want that for you, so take some time out and make you and some else smile. It doesn't have to be big (Although if you want tie-dye the Hokage Robes, go for it) just something to brighten the day. We've seen a lot of things being ninja and odds are so will you. It'll get to you if you don't learn to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

'Thirdly, (last of this depressing shit I promise!) Live on for me and anyone else you lose. The best way to honour someone is to live for them. So do something different, be a little creative with your mission orders (I've found that if you give them porn they stop caring about proper reports) or ask that pretty girl out. Whatever you do, live for the moment with no regrets. And I expect you to have at least one threesome by the time your thirty. Jin and I both had one. (Rikimaru managed to get three and a foursome, lucky bastard) Understood?

'Now, on to other things about life, love, and everything.

'Lesson one: The strength of an angry kunoichi is exponentially proportional to their position, and geometrically proportional to whatever pissed them off. Thus, if you grope a Genin girl, it makes her as strong as Jonin temporarily, a Jonin beyond Kage level for leering. And if you ever meet a female Kage and manage to piss her off? Just slit your throat...it'll hurt less.

Lesson two: Never ever ask, "What can go wrong?" on a similar note never say "At least it can't get any worse" or any other phrase that makes you Murphy's bitch.

Lesson three: Never attempt an escort mission while drunk. (Ask Jin why he's technically a monk if you're wondering why) Come to think of it, don't get drunk on missions.

Lesson four: Never get involved in a catfight. Make sure at some point to use a mud jutsu though.

Lesson five: In a relationship, the woman is always right if you want to be happy.

Lesson six: Never ever, piss off a genjutsu user who knows your sexual preference.

Lesson seven: It's always the quiet ones that you have to watch out for.

Lesson eight: Be polite, be professional, and have a plan in place to kill everyone you meet.

Lesson nine: Don't be emo, that's for the 'prodigies'.

Lesson ten: Keep your friends close. They're the only ones who will keep you from going over the edge.

Lesson eleven: By the same token, enemies come in two categories: 'dead', and 'soon to be dead'.

Lesson twelve: Whatever doesn't kill you better be dead afterwards.

That should just about cover it. Hmmm this letter needs more angst doesn't it? All right I'm sure you've wondered why I convinced the others to train you. Fact was you impressed me. Not because of the prank (though that was funny), but because a 10 year old kid, who had spent most of his life alone

without anyone there for him, found the strength to laugh instead of cry. That is why I decided to train you and that is why the others went along with it. Your greatest weapon is your mind but your strongest weapon has always been your will. Live well kid; see you on the other side. (And I was serious about the threesome)

Shin Tadakoro

**Naruto's Apartment**

"Thanks Shin-sensei." Naruto said to himself.

Chuckling at the last line Shin had written. The blond didn't know what the future held or whether or not he could keep it together. Hell, he didn't know if any woman would ever like him that way. It didn't matter because for now Naruto had decided to just live in the present. _'Now what colour to make the robes?'_ Naruto wondered as he began planning a prank. It had been far too long since his last one.

A/N: Well I've finally done it and broke the chain. Normally I update Once More and A Monk's Tale before I get back to Old School but this chapter just wouldn't leave me alone. That said I've been bowled over by the response I got last chapter I think the alerts and favourites doubled. So a big thanks to the readers. And an even bigger thanks to DustBunnyQueen who beta read this chapter. Also check the challenges in my profile... I want an Archer Naruto dammit.

Next: Sarutobi instructs Naruto on politics. Kakashi learns Psychology and Sasuke learns not to piss off Sakura.


	9. Game

**Scene Change**

'_Internal Monologue'_

**Sarutobi Manor**

Sarutobi looked at his hat. Normally his hat was white and red. His hat was now Orange and black, it didn't look bad but it wasn't his hat. Still, there was only one person who would use orange in a prank.

"Welcome back Naruto." Hiruzen said chuckling before putting on the hat and doing a quick henge to it, changing the colour back to normal.

Walking out of his residence, he decided that it was time to have a chat with the boy. Naruto obviously needed lessons on how to avoid having a signature when doing pranks.

"Hokage-sama?" The secretary for the day asked as Hiruzen walked into the office.

"Yes Kiku?" Sarutobi said in his kindly old man manner.

"Why is your beard orange?" She asked.

"I'm experiment with a new hair dye...looks like this one will not working either." The old Kage replied not even hesitating with the lie.

'_Well played Naruto, well played. Using a time-released dye in my soap, one that wouldn't show up with the hazard seals, that takes skill. Of course you realize that this means war.'_ Sarutobi thought to himself.

"Tell me Kiku, what is the worse D-rank we have on the books today?" Hiruzen asked out of the blue.

"Umm, I think it's cleaning out the septic lines in the Inuzuka complex. Why do you ask Hokage-sama?" The young Chuunin asked.

"Keep that one on hold for me...I have a team in mind for it." The Third Hokage said. His mind filled with evil laughter.

"Yes sir." Kiku answered. Wondering why she had agreed to fill in for Iruka. Handling crazy old men with the power to kill you was more than she had bargained for.

"Very well." The Sandaime said with a smile as he entered his office.

**Training Grounds**

"So how long do you think Kakashi-sensei will take?" Sakura said throwing a punch.

She and Naruto had taken to sparring in order to pass the time waiting for Kakashi.

"Knowing him...two hours maybe more." Naruto answered as he dodged.

"Good, maybe I can hit you in that time." She growled throwing out a front kick.

"You've got a long way to go before that happens." The blond replied, even as he turned slightly avoiding the kick completely.

"How do you keep reading me anyway?" The pinkette asked.

"Your eyes always shift to the area you're going to hit." The whiskered Genin answered.

"Well, yeah, I got to see where I'm hitting." Sakura answered.

"True, but that's why Kami gave us peripheral vision. It's not something you can really teach except by doing though. Keep practicing." The blond said throwing out a side kick to force Sakura back.

"That's why you're always saying watch their eyes isn't it?" The former fan girl asked.

"Yes, among other reasons." Naruto answered even as he dodged a roundhouse.

"Hnn." Sasuke made his normal noise when doing...well anything really.

"Morning Sunshine...what's up your ass today?" The blond said cheerily.

Naruto enjoyed pissing off people. It was a flaw he had inherited from his senseis. And he hadn't been living up to form for last few days for obvious reasons.

"Naruto...do not insult me." The broody Genin said.

"You know, I'm trying for the witty banter here and you're just not living up to your side of the bargain." Naruto said with a sigh.

"Witty banter? That would require you to have wit right?" The pinkette chimed in.

"Yes! See Sakura gets it. Why can't you?" The whiskered boy asked with a fake whine.

"There's no point in doing that. It won't help me to get stronger." Sasuke said irritably.

"Maybe. But it will help you become a likeable human being, and frankly that's a worthwhile goal in its own right." Naruto said. Unknowingly adopting the same tone his senseis used.

"I don't care. The only thing that matters to me is getting strong enough to kill my brother. You told me to adapt and find my own way to strength. I don't see banter helping me on that." The moody boy said with a shrug.

"Sasuke, I have a question." Sakura interjected.

"Alright."

"What are you going to do after you kill your brother?" She asked.

"I'll revive the Uchiha clan and bring it to new glory and power."

"Okay...that requires other people to at least tolerate you right?" The pinkette continued.

"Yes..." Sasuke answered unsure of where his teammate was going with this.

"So that means that ultimately, it's in your best interest to be a better person." Sakura concluded.

"For the chance to join the Uchiha clan...any woman would be willing to put up with me. I don't particularly care about their happiness as long as they behave as a good wife should. Even a clanless one." The last Uchiha said.

Now, to be fair, Sasuke had bought into his parent's view of the world. Said view was so distorted from reality that expecting Sasuke to understand the concepts of equality and fair treatment would be a little much.

"...Sakura?" Naruto asked.

Sakura, for her part, was bathed in flames of righteous feminine fury.

"SASUKE UCHIHA!" She shouted.

"Shit, you've pissed her off...she's a feminist these days. Run you fool!" The blond said. He remembered lesson one.

"What can she---urk!" Whatever Sasuke was about to say was interrupted by a throat punch.

Bending over, holding his throat Sasuke placed himself just right for Sakura's knee to find his face. Sasuke had just begun to rise when an elbow strike hit his back forcing him on to the ground.

The entire attack had taken less than a minute. Sasuke, if he had thought that it would do any good, could still move, and attack.

"Listen Uchiha...you will treat the rest of us with respect. We're not just animals for you to order about. And no matter how bad you've had it that doesn't give you the right to treat the rest of us like shit!" Sakura growled before storming away.

"Naruto, why is Sasuke on the ground?" Kakashi asked arriving a few minutes later.

"Sakura took him out after the insulted her gender and her origins." The blond answered with a shrug.

"Sakura?" The masked ninja asked.

Kakashi was surprised by this. He knew that Sakura had been working hard to get herself up to standards, but hadn't thought that she would reach her teammates levels for at least several months. He had thought it was more likely to take a year. Yet apparently, the former fan girl had gotten strong enough to take out the rookie. Even if was by surprise. Ninja love surprising people.

"I lost control of my temper." She said still angry.

"Sakura we will have words later. You two go get a mission while I get Sasuke checked out. Kage Bushin!" Kakashi said with faint distaste.

"Come on you two." The clone said. The other two Genin followed the clone and left.

"Sasuke...what is your problem? You should be smarter than this." The sliver haired Jonin said.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked. Or tried to anyway, it sounded more like one word.

"You keep going out of your way to piss off your teammates. You don't have to love them but you do have to work with them and that won't happen if you keep doing things like this." The masked man said with a sigh.

Looking over Sasuke for a moment, Kakashi had to conclude that Sakura had done no truly permanent damage.

"Looks like you nose is broken but that's about it. Now are you going to tell me what's going on?" Kakashi asked jerking his student's nose back into place.

"I have no interest in them or interacting with them. Yet they still keep on pushing. If they would just shut up I'd have no problems." Sasuke answered after biting back a scream.

"Sasuke, you can't have it both ways. You want them to treat you normally. Part of being normal is people pushing back when you try to stomp all over them." The one-eyed man said.

"I don't stomp all over them." The dark haired boy said sulkily.

"Don't you? You expect them to treat you like the last Uchiha, as someone inherently worthy of respect. They aren't going to do that. You've all but destroyed your image in Sakura's mind and Naruto will never respect you." Kakashi said after a moment.

"Hnn." Sasuke reverted back to his trademarked sound.

No, literally, he had it trademarked. No one else was allowed to use it Konoha. No one knows why Sasuke did that though.

"Come on, let's go catch up with the others." The older man said with sigh.

**Hokage Tower**

"You are a bad man...Hokage-sama!" Naruto growled.

"Naruto-kun, it's not my fault that you got unlucky enough to draw that particular D-rank." The Sandaime said with a too innocent expression.

"Sure it isn't." The whiskered Genin said disbelievingly.

"Anyway, get yourself cleaned up and report. I'm interested in hearing your debriefing. Gai has expressed some concerns." The Hokage said.

"Yes sir." Naruto turned to go and clean himself of the dog shit on his clothes.

The Hokage had to wait several hours before Naruto returned looking much cleaner than when he had left.

"Sit, Naruto." Hiruzen said gesturing to the chair.

"This isn't about the mission is it?" The blond asked while sitting down.

"No, you preformed as I expected. With my village and forces back under my control I feel it is time to start bringing you in." The Sandaime said while lighting a pipe.

"In?" Naruto said cautiously.

He had heard too many stories of time were everything went to hell to be all bright-eyed and eager about this. In fact, most of the stories started like this. They usually ended with somebody missing a body part.

"Naruto, like it or not you are my choice for Hokage. As soon as I think you are ready I will step down and give the job to you." Hiruzen said without preamble.

"But I'm not..." The blond began to say.

"Not what?" The gray haired Kage interrupted.

"You know; a leader, a teacher, you told me once that the Hokage and the village are family. I don't feel that for the village. I'm a ninja because there are no other options for me and I'm good at it." The blue-eyed boy said with a shrug.

"Believe what you will. Tell me Naruto who should I give the position to?" The old Kage said with a quirked eyebrow.

That actually stumped Naruto for a bit.

"I don't know, but there's got to be someone more suited for it than me." He finally said.

"I'm exercising my prerogative as a crazy old man and telling you anyway. This is, of course, classified." Hiruzen said after taking a long puff of smoke from his pipe.

"Of course...heaven forbid that our government operate with some sort of transparency." The blonde muttered.

"We're ninja." The Sandaime retorted.

"Touché." Naruto agreed.

"Now for Sarutobi's guide to Konoha politics. First thing, managing politics in Konoha is a bit like balancing two buckets of water on a stick, while on a unicycle, on a tightrope after you've had a shot of Firewater. It's doable but very tricky.

"On the one hand, you have your clans, on the other your commoners. They hate each other. Then you have your ninja who are loyal to their origins and each other. Now these three groups all have to be balanced so that no one decides to revolt. Add to that the Daimyo who, depending on the luck of the draw, can be a friend, enemy or something in between.

"The clan's power is purely political. When they came, they became feudal lords owing fealty to the Hokage. Such a relationship entails rights and responsibilities. The most important for everyday use is that, save in criminal manners, clan law overrides village law. This is why I never banned the caged bird seal. It falls under clan law. The clans also own most of the land in Konoha and make most of their money from rent. They, as a matter of course, wish for more power.

"Then we have the commoners. Their power is primarily economic, they run virtually all the shops except food, and weapons manufacture. If they so choose they can cripple Konoha's economy. As a general rule they believe that they are just as good as the clans but put on the appearance of subservience. Like the clans, they want more power.

"Now both of these groups are held in line by the ninja force. Neither side wants to deal with ninja from the other side slicing throats and throwing giant fireballs. Unfortunately, the ninja force is somewhat divided into clan ninja and clanless ninja. At present, the clanless ninja have a slight edge in numbers but not enough to force the issue given that many of them are orphans. Thus not loyal to the commoners.

"Now in charge of this particular madhouse of power struggles and back room deals is the Hokage. By law, we have absolute power. In practice, we step lightly to avoid the clans and commoners getting angry enough to unite against us. No one wants a civil war, which is the worst of all possible outcomes. The Hokage's power rests in his own personal strength and the loyalty of his ANBU and ninja. At present, there are enough loyal ninja that I can take all comers and win.

"This was not always so, particularly during the third war. The clans managed to recover faster than the commoners did and so I needed their support. Which is why I never had Danzo executed; too many of the clans owed personal favours to Hidetada. Those that didn't had blackmail material on them. Hidetada forced them to go against me unless I allowed Danzo to live. However with the death of Danzo and his supporters I can once again begin moving against the clans and the commoners to break down the factions and unite Konoha and her people under one rule." Sarutobi finished his explanation.

"And you want me to take over this mess?" The whiskered boy said incredulous.

"Eventually. I don't expect you to until you're much older though." The Sandaime admitted.

"Jiji are you sure it's just tobacco in that pipe? I'm good at wet-work and covert ops, not political puppet- mastery." Naruto grumbled.

"You'll learn. Talk to your senseis, they know enough to teach you the basics." The old Kage said with a chuckle.

"Jiji...I'm really starting to wonder about you." The blond said shaking his head.

"Naruto, if you weren't wondering about me then I'm not doing my job right. You are a ninja you're supposed to wonder. What was it that sensei always said?" Hiruzen mused as he puffed on his pipe.

"Ahh yes. 'Nothing is true unless you prove it'. Doubletalk and outright lying are fairly common as you get up in the ranks. Only trust what you know to be true." He answered his own question.

"Paranoid, aren't you?" The whiskered Genin said wryly.

"I've been in two wars, several incidents and had more assassins try to kill me then you've had ramen. I'm allowed to be paranoid." Hiruzen said using his best grumpy old man voice.

"Yes Jiji." Naruto said in a resigned tone.

"Now, go and have some fun." The Sandaime made a shooing motion.

"Already have Jiji..." The blond said with a grin.

As Naruto used a shunshin to disappear, a set of stink bombs went off.

"Well Naruto...point to you this round. But I shall win the war." Hiruzen said after a moment.

"Hokage-sama what happened in here? It smells like rotten eggs..." Kiku said almost choking on the scent.

"I'm not sure, open the doors and windows let it air out. We'll have to put some extra ANBU on duty tonight but it should be fine." The old monkey summoner said.

**Rusty Kunai**

The Rusty Kunai was a very exclusive bar. Only Jonin shinobi could enter. The place was decorated with sober browns and trophies from past missions.

"I just don't know what to do with them..." Kakashi whined.

"Oh stop whining Kakashi. Your team is competent, skilled, and capable of taking just about any job." Asuma said and took a long pull of beer.

"They want to kill each other." The gray haired Jonin said.

How he managed to drink while never taking off his mask is a mystery for the ages. But he did manage it.

"The problem seems to be with Naruto and Sasuke." Kurenai said holding a fruity concoction.

"Every time." Kakashi agreed.

"So who starts it?" The bearded Jonin asked, wishing for a cigarette. He had run out about an hour ago.

"Naruto usually, but I can't say I blame him for it." The masked Jonin answered, even as he took another gulp of Sake.

"Oh?" Asuma said curious.

Kakashi was famous for not tolerating intra-team fighting.

"Naruto is unique, to the say the least. His first reaction to self-important people is to mock them. Deserved or not, Sasuke has an ego and shows it. Sasuke knows this, or should if he had the sense Kami gave a goat." The copy ninja explained.

"Well I think the problem lies in Naruto..." Kurenai said after a moment.

"Why do you say that Kurenai?" Team Ten's Jonin asked.

"Naruto is unique, but he also expects people to be like him. Naruto has a very no-nonsense view of the world. Revenge or anything to do with honour is...stupid to him. Sasuke defines himself by revenge and restoring his clan's honour right?" The Genjutsu mistress asked.

"Yeah. Problem is that Naruto defines people by their competence and willingness to work hard." Kakashi agreed after a moment.

"Sasuke is the Rookie of the year. Are you saying he isn't competent?" Asuma asked with a chuckle.

"No, he is but not in the way Naruto is. Sasuke is the type of person who will go in and fight someone head on. Naruto will simply assassinate the idiot. They have two very different views on dealing with threats." The masked man answered after taking a shot.

The trio of rookie sensei sat in silence for a while.

"So the problem is Sasuke _and_ Naruto." The black haired woman said after finishing off her drink.

"Huh? How did you get that Kurenai?" The one-eyed man said.

"Naruto spends a fair bit of his free time with my team. I've watched him. He does not seem like the type to go and pick fights. However, he also deals with anxiety and nervousness with humour. Something about Sasuke must make him have both; leading to Naruto's constant ridicule." Kurenai answered with a shrug.

"But why would Naruto be anxious about Sasuke? The kid isn't gay." Kakashi said.

"I dunno Kakashi..." Asuma said with a grin.

"He's not damn it!" The former ANBU said stubbornly.

"They're too young to really know one way or another yet. No, I think Naruto is trying to keep himself from getting close to Sasuke as a friend. To do so he keeps on provoking the little emo." The red eyed woman said.

"Damn it Kurenai stop insulting my students." Kakashi said in a fake angry tone.

"Well you do have to wonder why he wears those forearm thingies." Asuma said hiding a laugh at Kakashi's annoyance.

"Sasuke isn't emo...he deserves a little angst given what happened to him." Team Seven's Jonin said with pouting tone of voice.

"In the words of one my students...So what? Everyone has to deal with things that they shouldn't have to. Sasuke just got a bad hand." Kurenai said after a moment.

"That's rather callous of you Kurenai." Asuma commented.

"I've been working with your other student, Sakura. What she says about Sasuke has led to a dislike of the boy on my part." Team Eight's Sensei admitted.

"That still leaves the question of what to do with Naruto. Kid doesn't seem to trust anyone except the Hokage and those he considers friends. Gai's worried that the kid will turn into one of those autopilot ANBU who just does the job, sleeps and gets back to the job." Kakashi said out loud.

"You're listening to Gai on this?" The chain-smoking Jonin asked incredulously.

"Look, if even he's worried, then there probably is a problem alright?"

"Good point. So what are you going to do about it?" Asuma asked.

"I dunno...kid won't bond with the team properly. He doesn't trust me and seems to be operating on the principle that everything is trying to kill him." The Chidori creator said finishing his drink.

"There's something to be said for that. It took me years to learn." The wind user admitted.

"He's thirteen." Kakashi groused.

Kakashi hated the concept of teaching children to kill. It had done so much to him, but he was pragmatic enough to know that it wouldn't end as long as ninjas existed. However, he tried as best he could to keep children relatively innocent.

"Physically maybe, but mentally he's far older. I don't know much about his childhood but most people take after their parents." The genjutsu mistress said.

"Naruto never had anyone like that until squad 13." The silver haired man said after a moment.

"Which means Naruto is basing who he is off a group of veteran ANBU." The nicotine addicted Jonin said.

"That explains so much doesn't it?" Kurenai said with a chuckle.

"So I have to somehow overcome my own various psychoses and prove to Naruto that I can be trusted. While at the same time making Naruto and Sasuke realize that they need to work together. Is that what I'm hearing?" The retired ANBU said with a groan.

"You forgot teaching Sasuke to abandon his revenge kick." Asuma said with a grin.

"You know, I swear if I ever find out who assigned me this group I'm going to kick their ass." The elite Jonin muttered.

"Now, now, Kakashi it could be worse." The chain-smoker said with a patronizing air.

"True, at least my team is actually motivated." Kakashi retorted.

"That was a low blow." The former Fire Temple Guardian said with a shake of his head.

"So what are you going to do?" Kurenai asked.

"I dunno, team work exercises I guess. I'll think of something tomorrow." The masked Jonin said.

"Whose turn is it to buy the next round?" Asuma asked after finishing his drink.

"I think it's yours, Asuma." The red eyed woman said with a sly grin.

"Crap. Waitress, another round for me and my friends!" The knife-wielding Jonin shouted.

**Complex**

"What's up senseis?" Naruto asked.

His two remaining senseis had brought him to the common room and sat him down.

"We were going through Shin's stuff and we found something we thought you might like to have." Jin said after a moment.

Rikimaru produced a medium sized scroll. Opening it up, they could see a list of names. At the top, in formal lettering, was the title: Summoning Contract for the Most Noble and Ancient Owl Clan.

"A summoning contract...for owls!" The blond said, surprise showing on his face.

"Yeah, Shin almost never used them but they were good for scouting and tracking. I think it was a matter of having it and not needing it than anything else." Rikimaru admitted.

"Why are you giving it to me?" Naruto asked.

Summoning contracts were almost ridiculously rare, and to have one offered free of charge was unheard of. Most were passed along family lines or master apprentice relationships. A few rare ones were floating around free, but the odds of finding one were similar to winning the lottery.

"We don't need it. And we figured you'd like to have something to remember Shin by." The huge man said with a wan smile.

"Thank you." Naruto said sincerely, almost getting up to bow.

"It's not a sure thing; you'll have to prove yourself before you can use them. These are combat types. No giant owls I'm afraid." Rikimaru said.

"Fair enough, something that big wouldn't be practical anyway." The blond said after a moment.

Giant owls would have been cool, but they were far too flashy for Naruto. He preferred to stick to the shadows and be a bit more subtle than that.

"Alright...just sign in blood here." The bald man said.

Naruto bit his thumb and signed his name. There was a slight glow on the scroll as the name was accepted.

"Good, we'll start teaching you how to summon tomorrow, after you've done a mission." Jin said after a moment.

"Hai sensei." The whiskered Genin agreed.

"Now...it's time to go back to training." Rikimaru said with an evil smile.

"Hai sensei." Naruto whimpered.

A/N: Hello people this is a bit of a Christmas gift for all of you. Chapter one has been rewritten so go check it out. A huge thank you to DustBunnyQueen for betaing this chapter despite a storm. Happy holidays. (I swear to God I'm working on my other stories)


	10. Falling in the Black

Training exercise....training exercise...what would work for team 7? Kakashi wondered to himself. As per usual he was spending time at the memorial stone. What would Sensei do? He mused.

Well, sensei would have made them live, sleep and breathe together until they learned to tolerate each other. Wait....there was something there. A survival exercise that would do it! Toss them into one of the more...dangerous training grounds and leave them there for a week. If they didn't kill each other or die then they should be able to work together.

Kakashi isn't really the best teacher for new genin is he? Still he means well.

Now which training ground to use? Not 44, it was earmarked for the exams anyway. _Anko always got pissy if you used it_. Kakashi groused to himself. Well there was Training ground 50....yeah, that could work. Now it was time to go do the paper work to get it for a week.

With that thought Kakashi left the training grounds in a swirl of leaves.

**Complex**

"Faster boy! Those clones should have been dead five minutes ago!" Rikimaru shouted.

Naruto grunted as he twisted a clone's neck. Every day it was the same thing. Work out, learn/perfect a new technique, slaughter an army of clones... Every day he had to be faster. As Naruto launched a kick that would kill a real person into a clone; he wondered at what point killing had become second nature to him.

The scarred old man looked on at Naruto dispassionately. The boy had grown in leaps and bounds. If Rikimaru was honest with himself, he'd admit that the boy was almost as good as he was at the age, almost. _Still, given what was in store; the boy has a long way to go_. Rikimaru mused.

Naruto slid back into a neutral stance as he finished off the last of the clones.

"Your last kick was too high, you still take too long snapping necks and your punches are getting sloppy. If we had the time I'd make you do it all over again. But Jin wants to start teaching you the fine game of politics. So get a shower and go talk to him."

"Hai, Sensei." The blond said.

"You did a decent job on the throat punch today. Perhaps next time you can say the same about your kidney punch." Rikimaru called out.

"Yes sensei." Naruto said shaking his head.

Rikimaru rarely gave unconditional praise, he knew that. But since Shin's death, both of his senseis had been pushing him harder. The whiskered shinobi wasn't quite sure what to make of that. He could understand keeping the training up so that he could continue to be ahead of Sasuke. The mission needed that.

But this wasn't about that. Or it didn't seem that way to Naruto. Rather, it felt like both of his senseis were trying to cram in as much as they could before they died. _That idea hurt him more than it should_. Naruto thought bitterly to himself.

He still wasn't completely over Shin's death. Naruto doubted that he'd ever be completely over it. You always remember the first time you lose a family member; always. Naruto pushed the morose musing out of his mind as he walked over to Jin.

"Alright kid...Sarutobi wants me to start teaching you fine game of politics." Jin began.

"Yes, sensei. Still don't really agree with it but..." Naruto shrugged.

"You're better than you know. Now, the first lesson of politics is this: Everyone has a price, and it's often much cheaper than we'd like." The huge man said with a sigh.

"So it's better to appeal to self interest?" The blond asked.

"Yes. People are dumb, stupid animals. Appeal to their wallets and guts and they'll play to your tune. A person is different. A person you can reason with. The mob can't be reasoned with."

"That's rather cynical, Sensei." Naruto said.

"I've seen enough peasant rebellions to know how things work. It usually starts simple. A hike in taxes, a child gets hurt, some idiot kills an elder. The people start talking. Something else happens, a famine or more people hurt or more taxes. People get angry. And then some idiot, usually the nobility, does something stupid. Then we get hired and people start dying." The dark haired man retorted.

"I see. So what does the Hokage do?"

"That depends. Konoha has always been the nice guy of the Hidden Villages. On the whole, a Hokage has four main duties; two internal duties and two external. Internally, a Hokage has to keep the civilians happy and prosperous and keep the ninjas happy and busy. Externally, a Hokage has to keep the Daimyo from turning on him and fulfill the contract."

"But Konoha is a military dictatorship." Naruto pointed out.

"And you're wondering why we have to keep the civilians happy?" The black haired man asked amused.

"Well...yeah." The blue-eyed boy said sheepishly.

"Simply put, we need them. An army marches on its stomach. Wars are won and lost on gold." Jin answered.

"I've heard that somewhere before." The blond frowned.

"Indeed you have its taken from 'The Hidden Art of War' by Kutsuna Aoba. Amongst other things it's considered one of the finest books on War there is." The bespectacled man said with sage tone.

"Can I read it?" The whiskered ninja asked.

"You will. Now where was I?" Jin wondered out loud.

"Wars are won and lost on gold."

"Right, the reason we need civilians is because of logistics. They grow/import our food, make our weapons, and a host of other minor things. All of these are things we could do ourselves but not as well."

"So we need them....do they need us?"

*Smack* Jin smacked Naruto in the head.

"Don't be stupid. Of course they do. The reason people sleep safely at night is because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." The genjutsu user scowled.

"Who said that?" The blond asked.

"No one really knows; it's from before the Rikudo Sennin. Although most attribute it to someone named Orwell."

"Who?" Naruto blinked.

"No idea."

"Alright, so everyone has a price. How do you figure what the price is?" The blond asked.

"Well, you read them like you would in battle. Take a look at this picture."

Jin pulled out a small photograph of Chouza Akimichi.

"Chouji's dad." Naruto answered.

"What can you tell me about him?" The black haired man demanded. After looking at it for a moment Naruto began speaking out loud.

"He's a brawler. Doesn't like subtlety but can do it if necessary. He's loyal. Eats because he has to not because he's greedy. Probably a Papa Wolf. I can't tell much more than that."

"Mostly accurate, he's also someone who is rather kind. Now how does that translate into the political arena?" The burly man asked.

"I don't know." The blond shrugged.

"Alright, he's a brawler but not a boisterous one. That means he's not a natural politician or leader. He's not naturally subtle so he tends to wait and see. He's extremely loyal, but a follower. He lets others do the talking. Anything coming between him and his family is an enemy. Last but not least he is someone with a conscience. Prove to him that you are working for Konoha and he'll follow." Jin said.

"You got all that from a picture?" The whiskered ninja was incredulous.

"No, I got all that from having met the man. You can tell a lot about people from how they look. But you'll never get the full story unless you actually talk about them. Even people you've known for years can surprise you." The dark haired man explained.

"So why did you ask me to do that then?" Naruto asked frowning.

"Two reasons, one to introduce you to a potential ally. The other reason is to teach you not to just rely on what your intuition says." The bespectacled man said wryly.

"Thanks, Sensei."

"Alright, now that's out of the way let's talk about the factions...."

Jin launched into a very detailed lecture on the various internal politics of Konoha. Naruto listened apathetically at first but gradually became more and more interested as time went on.

Glancing over at the setting sun Jin gave a smile.

"That's it for now. Go get some sleep we'll pick it up next week."

The blond nodded and made his way to Ichikaru's. Rikimaru walked in carrying a shogi board. Placing it in front of his friend, the two began to play.

"So how did it go?" The scarred man asked.

"Alright I'd say. Kid's got good instincts." Jin said.

"We already knew that." The bald man muttered.

Jin just smiled as he took the first piece of the game.

"Let me rephrase it. Remember the picture test we got?"

"Yeah." Rikimaru said.

"He got more than either of us did."

"Really?" The short man raised an eyebrow.

"He was able to figure out that Chouzu Akimichi can be subtle but doesn't like it." The burly man said with pride.

"Better than we did."

"I think he's got the knack." Jin said.

"The knack?" Rikimaru asked dryly.

"You know what I mean." Jin growled good-naturedly.

"His father's gift, then." The scarred man said.

Jin took another piece.

"Yep, Minato was one of the best commanders there ever was."

"Kid's going to be a hell of Hokage." Rikimaru said.

"Isn't he just?" The burly man gave a disturbing grin.

"Jin, what did we say about grinning like that?" The scarred man said.

Giving a frown as he lost a piece Jin spoke.

"No children around to scare, Riki."

"Point."

"So how's the kid coming along otherwise?" The burly man asked.

"His taijutsu is getting there. A couple of more weeks and he'll be adequate." Rikimaru answered.

"Meaning he can take down a Jonin with his bare hands, I take it?" Jin chuckled.

"As I said, adequate." The bald man scowled.

"Only you would call being able to take a Jonin 'adequate'." The dark haired man said wryly.

"You know the kid's going to have enough enemies." The short man scowled.

"True, find anything else in the library?" Jin asked.

"A few training scrolls on the elements. Figure we'll get him started on that in a few weeks." The scarred man gave a shrug.

"Going to make him like Sarutobi are we?" Jin said dryly.

Sarutobi was fairly unique amongst ninjas. Most ninjas stuck to one or two elements and made them work regardless of the situation. Smarter Ninjas generally learned to control elements that complemented each other. Sarutobi didn't do that. Instead, he learned and mastered all elements that didn't require a blood line. This allowed Sarutobi to dominate any battles he fought. Well that, and being fiendishly inventive at hurting people.

"Hell no, we're going to make him better!" Rikimaru said with a laugh.

"That we are, Riki; that we are." Jin replied as he took another piece.

**Training Ground 50**

"Hello everybody!" Kakashi said.

He had gathered his team at the entrance to a massive cave complex. The entrance was a vertical hole.

"Kakashi-sensei." Sakura said.

"Sensei." Naruto greeted.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded.

"Alright, we're going to have a little training today. Some light exercises." The silver haired man said.

This is was, of course, a signal for three shadow clones. The clones drained Kakashi a fair bit but not to crippling levels. The clones grabbed and threw the Genin into the hole.

"DAMMIT!" Sasuke shouted.

"Go to hell, Sensei!" Naruto snarled, throwing a kunai at all of them.

Unfortunately, Naruto failed to hit any of them. Or is that fortunately? Either way, no one got stabbed.

"What are you doing?" Sakura wondered.

The three landed at the bottom of the cave in a heap. Kakashi looked down.

"I'll be back in a week, have fun!" He said with an eye smile.

"That's it, he's on the list." The blond said.

The trio stood up looking around the cave.

"The list?" The pinkette asked.

"My list of people to painfully cripple." The whiskered boy answered.

"You have a list of people to painfully cripple?" The bookworm said.

"I do now."

"Well it could be worse, right?" She asked.

*Hssssss* A large hissing sound filled the cavern.

"I hate you so very much." Naruto said.

"Please tell me that isn't a giant snake." Sasuke deigned to enter the conversation.

"Alright, I won't tell you." Sakura replied.

It was indeed a giant snake. Roughly twenty meters...give or take. None of the trio could make out what it looked like in the darkness very well. It seemed to be dark grey in colour with white patches.

Slowly the snake coiled around the group in a circle. Sasuke began to make the seals for his fireball jutsu.

"Stop you idiot. We're underground we don't know how much air we have down here." Sakura said quietly.

"We have to kill it." The dark haired boy pointed out.

"Let me try and cut it." Naruto said unsealing his sword.

Naruto swung his sword at the snake intending to cut it one stroke. The sword bounced with a loud clang. The snake quickly struck, grabbing Naruto in a death grip.

"Fuck guys...I could use a little help. Its skin is armoured. Go for the eyes if you can!" The blond gasped out.

Sakura and Sasuke pulled out their kunai. The two ran up and stabbed the snake in the eyes. However the death grip on Naruto didn't loosen. If anything it got tighter. Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other neither knowing what to do.

"Open its mouth and stick and explosive note in there. Hurry, I can feel my ribs breaking." The whiskered Genin said.

"Naruto, we don't have any." Sakura whispered in horror.

"Fuck I'll do it myself." The blond snarled.

Naruto slid out one of his explosive notes and slapped on the snake detonating it. The snake gave a loud hiss but slightly loosened its grip. It was just enough for Naruto to grab another explosive note and stuff it into the snake's mouth.

The snake's head exploded. Pulling himself away from the carcass. Naruto said:

"Fucking snake."

"You okay?" The pinkette asked.

"I'll be fine. I got it before it actually broke anything. I'll be sore for a bit, that's all."

"Good." Surprisingly Sasuke said this.

"What the hell was that thing anyway?" The whiskered boy asked.

"I think it was a meteor snake." Sakura answered slowly.

"A what?" Both boys asked.

"It's rare snake that has a virtually impenetrable hide. They're usually found in Moon Country." Sakura answered.

For once, her encyclopaedic knowledge came in handy. Sakura felt proud of herself.

"So what's it doing here?" The blond asked.

Naruto wasn't book smart. Ask him to fight, ask him to train, and he'd do it. But books never appealed to him. Unless they were about fighting.

"This is obviously a training ground. They probably decided to add dangerous creatures for some reason." Sasuke reasoned.

"Great. So what do we do?" The pinkette asked.

"Try and find a way out I guess." The onyx-eyed boy gave a shrug.

"How much food do we have?" Naruto asked.

Three knapsacks fell from the sky.

"Here are your supplies! Sorry about that. I forgot to give them to you earlier." Kakashi shouted down.

"Yeah definitely on the List." The blond said.

"Well let's check and see what we got." Sakura said studiously.

Admittedly, Sakura also had Kakashi on the list for punishment. But she didn't see any need to keep the fires burning as it were.

The trio searched through the knapsacks. They found enough rations for a week, some glow sticks, a compass....and a copy of Icha Icha Tactics. They all sighed at that.

"Well at least we have toilet paper." Naruto said at last.

Sakura chuckled and Sasuke gave a small smile at that.

"I figure there's got to be another way out of here." Sakura pointed out.

"Yeah should we go looking though?" Sasuke asked.

"We can always mark our trail." Naruto answered.

"Good point." The dark haired boy agreed.

"Before we head out...we need a team leader." The whiskered ninja said.

"And you think it should be you?" Sasuke said in a low tone.

"No...I'm out of my element here." The blond admitted.

Sasuke held the other boy's gaze for a long minute before saying.

"Hate to admit it but so am I."

"I know a bit but not much." The bookworm said.

"More than we do." Naruto pointed out.

"What are you guys saying?" The pinkette asked.

The two boys looked at each other for a few moments.

"I think we're saying you're in charge." The blond one spoke.

"Seriously?" The green-eyed girl asked.

"Yeah..." The dark haired one answered.

Sakura was admittedly floored. She had never considered herself much of a leader. It had always been someone else who did it. On team 7, it was usually Naruto. But Naruto was voluntarily stepping aside in this case. He was placing his trust in her and so was Sasuke. In an instant she decided that she wouldn't let them down.

"Alright if you guys are sure... then I'll do it."

"So what do we do?" Naruto asked.

"Err...for now we'll go in a triangle formation. Sasuke you and I will take point until Naruto's fully up. Then we'll switch off every day. Naruto, I want you to mark our trail as we explore this place." The pinkette said nervously.

"Aye aye boss." The whiskered Genin said.

"Let's head out." The bookworm said after a moment.

The trio made their way deeper into the cave system.

**Rusty Kunai (6 hours later)**

"So, Kakashi, did you figure what you're going to do with your team?" Asuma asked.

Their usual trio of Jonin senseis was bigger today. Yugao, Anko and Hayate had all shown up. They were all drinking sake tonight. It was cheap, and buying for six people got expensive fast the way they drank.

"Yep." The gray haired man said with an eye smile.

"What?" Hayate asked between coughs.

"I tossed them into Training area 50." The one-eyed Jonin said.

"You threw them into the Cave of Doom.....do I even want to know why?" Yugao asked slowly.

"Well they'll either learn to work together. Or die trying." Kakashi said simply.

"And you don't see the latter part of that as a bad thing?" Kurenai asked incredulously.

"Naruto's too stubborn to let anyone die." The masked ninja said with a wave.

"I dunno Kakashi; you've had some harebrained schemes before, but this takes the cake." The bearded Jonin said.

"What are you guys worrying about; I'm sure they're fine." Kakashi said dismissively.

**Cave of Doom**

"Why the hell are there giant spiders?" Naruto shouted.

There were indeed giant spiders. Currently they were doing their best to eat our heroes...well protagonists...alive. Seeing as how they were size of a small pick-up truck, our protagonists were having some difficulties.

"I don't know, but they're not dying." Sasuke shouted back.

"Stab it in the eye!" The blond said, quickly following his own advice and blinding one of the creatures.

"What is it with you and stabbing things in the eye?" The last Uchiha asked. The boy did do as told and blinded another spider.

"I go with what works. Where's Sakura?" The whiskered boy asked. He cleaved his sword through another leg.

"She's on the ground rocking back and forth. She's saying 'spiders will eat me' over and over." The black haired boy answered dryly.

"FUCK!" Naruto shouted.

More spiders had shown up. The duo was not happy with this development; not happy at all.

"Screw it; I'm killing them all with fire." Sasuke said after he blinded yet another one.

"Give me a minute to get over there." The blond said. Gutting one spider while dodging another.

"Why?" The onyx eyed boy demanded.

"So I can boost you with a wind jutsu dumbass!" Naruto shouted.

"Oh...well hurry up." Sasuke said. Proceeding to use an explosive note from Naruto to blow up three of them.

"I don't see you doing any better!" The blond snarled.

**Rusty Kunai**

"You sure Kakashi?" Hayate asked in a hoarse voice.

"When have I ever been wrong?" Kakashi said cavalierly.

"You know if they're not, the Sandaime's going to kill you." Asuma said finishing his drink.

"You guys worry too much. Is it my turn for the round?" The silver haired Jonin asked.

"No, it's mine. Barkeep another round please." Yugao called.

"Why the Cave of Doom anyway? I mean the Forest of Death is easier to access." Kurenai asked.

"Yeah, but Anko always gets bitchy about people going in there." The one-eyed man shrugged.

"I do not." Anko retorted.

"Yes you do." Asuma said.

"Hmmph." Anko pouted.

"What do you think,, Anko is my plan good?" The masked Jonin asked.

Kakashi didn't want Anko unhappy. Bad things tend to happen when she's unhappy.

"I dunno; what are your brats like?" The trench coated woman asked.

"They're all fairly well developed Genin..." Kakashi began.

**Cave of Doom**

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted.

"Futon: Daitoppa!" Naruto threw in his jutsu.

A massive fireball enveloped the cavern in front of them, deep frying the remaining giant spiders. The two boys surveyed their work with a smile. They both hated spiders now. Can you really blame them?

"You know, it's like my sensei always says." The blond said.

"Oh?" The loyal Uchiha grunted.

"When in doubt, kill it with fire." The whiskered genin said sagely.

"Seems to work." Sasuke said with a shrug.

The two stayed on guard a little longer. The last thing they needed was to let down their guard and have more spiders show up.

"Sakura's still out of commission." The dark haired boy said.

"I'll carry her. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Naruto said.

"Will you teach me that?" Sasuke asked.

"Do you have a giant chakra demon in your stomach giving you insane chakra reserves?" The blonds said with a look.

"Damn."

Sasuke took point. Neither felt any particular need to mark this room. The burn marks on the wall would do just nicely.

**Rusty Kunai**

"So that's my team." Kakashi finished.

"Well....I guess they could do alright. It's really up to chance. Hope you told them not drink the water." Anko said thoughtfully.

"Why's that?" Kurenai asked.

"There's an algae in the water. It's supposed to work kind of like LSD." The fishnet loving woman said.

"......" They all turned to look at Kakashi who stayed silent.

"You didn't tell them did you?" Yugao finally said.

"Err...no?" Kakashi rubbed the back of his head embarrassed.

"So a kid with the Kyuubi inside him is going to have an acid trip. I can't see this going wrong at all." Asuma said sarcastically.

"In my defence, I didn't know about that beforehand." The silver haired man pointed out.

"Maybe one of the others will drink it first and they'll figure it out." Hayate speculated.

"I hope so." Kurenai said.

Having studied a bit on psychotropic drugs so she could recreate the effects, Kurenai was well aware what a bad trip could do to a person.

The group sat in silence for a while drinking their sake.

"So, you guys nominating your teams for the Chunin exams?" Yugao asked out of the blue.

"Depends on how they do on this little training exercise." Kakashi shrugged.

"Probably." Kurenai answered.

"Same here." Asuma said.

"It's supposed to be a big one this time; a lot of competitors." Hayate said in between coughs.

"Bah, Ibiki and I will whittle them down in no time."Anko said cockily.

"Confident are we?" The ANBU swordswoman said.

"Haven't met a group I couldn't intimidate yet." The trench coated jonin said proudly.

"Maybe this year." Kakashi mused.

"I'll believe it when I see it." Anko was disdainful.

**Cave of Doom**

The trio had stopped near a small pool of water. Deciding that they would go no farther today, they made camp.

Sakura was slowly coming out her catatonic state. Naruto was currently using his clones to trap the entrances to the cave. Sasuke was getting a drink.

Sasuke drank the water. He felt strange. His skin clammy, mouth dry.

"Sasuke you okay?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, why?" Sasuke said shaking his head.

"You're all twitchy." The blond answered.

"I am?" The loyal Uchiha said.

Looking down at himself he didn't see anything wrong.

"Yeah." Naruto answered.

"Weird." The dark haired boy shook his head again.

"Yeah. Anyway, we should be okay tonight. I sent a clone to get whatever's handy so we can make a small fire. Need to purify that water." The whiskered Genin said.

"Hmmm....hey, Naruto, are the walls talking?" Sasuke asked.

"No....." Naruto was nonplussed.

"Totally could have sworn they are...hey, don't talk about my mother like that!" The onyx-eyed boy shouted.

"The hell?" The blond was completely confused.

"I am not pathetic!" Sasuke shouted again.

"Sasuke, what are you talking about?" The blue-eyed boy asked.

"Yeah, well, same to you" The loyal Uchiha snarled.

"Dude, what is going on?" Naruto again tried to find this out.

"That is it mother fucker." The dark haired boy began attacking one of the walls.

"Well, this certainly took a turn for a surreal." Naruto said rubbing the top of his head.

"Die you bastard!" The onyx-eyed boy snarled.

"It's going to be a long night." The blond sighed.

"No, it's not my fault, I was child." Sasuke's anger disappeared, only to be replaced with depression.

Naruto, following a hunch, took a small taste of the water. It tasted wrong to him. He could already feel his metabolism kicking into overdrive to process...the toxin.

"Okay...Don't drink the water, got it." The whiskered Genin said.

"It isn't..." Sasuke sobbed.

"This is just sad. Better knock the poor bastard out." The blue-eyed boy said.

Doing so, Naruto set both of his teammates against the wall doing his best to make them comfortable. Sitting down near the entrances, he prepared for a long night. Pulling out a ration bar he took a bite.

"Well this is just super." He muttered to himself. Kakashi was so on the List.

A/N: And we are back for now. Anyways sorry about the wait things have been rather hectic for me and DustBunnyQueen who deserves a big thanks for agreeing to beta for me. Only a few more chapters until the Chuunin exams!


	11. Oh No You Didn't

Sasuke groaned. Everything hurt. He'd been through rough training before but still...this was new.

"Welcome back, Sunshine." Naruto said.

The blond was staring at the cave entrance.

"Don't call me that. Where's Sakura?" The Uchiha growled.

"Sleeping." The blond answered.

"What happened to me?" Sasuke asked sitting up.

"There's some sort of drug in the water. When you drank it..." The whiskered ninja shrugged.

"Oh. How do you know this?" The onyx eyed boy demanded.

"I tried a bit of the water. My system burned through it quick enough so I wasn't affected. I could still tell though." Naruto explained.

"Huh, how long was I out?" Sasuke asked mollified.

"A couple of hours or so. It's hard to tell time down here without a cat." The blond shrugged again.

Sasuke needed to know what happened. Still, no one wants to hear about how crazy they've been. So it was with some trepidation that he asked.

"What happened?"

"Well, first you started seeing things. Then you said some things about your family. Then you attacked the wall for some reason. I knocked you out to make sure you didn't hurt yourself." Naruto asked.

"Thank you." The Uchiha was glad that he hadn't been a bigger ass than that.

Naruto handed him a ration bar. The two ate in silence until the blond asked.

"Sasuke? What wasn't your fault?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sasuke said defensively.

"Sasuke, we may not be each other's favourite people, but you have to talk about this. And I'm the only one around." Blue eyes expressed understanding.

"No I don't its personal." The dark haired boy snapped.

"Fine; damn you are as stubborn as I am." Naruto griped.

"I am nothing like you." The Uchiha growled.

"True, I'm not a total asshole." The other boy said.

"Yes you are. Although I doubt you intend to be whenever you talk with someone you don't know...you mock them and make them feel weak." Sasuke said showing rare insight.

"And here I thought you would be busy angsting." The blond quipped.

"You don't deny it?"

"Why would I? I admit I'm not very nice to most people. But I do try to give them a fair chance until they prove they're idiots. It's not my fault they do it right away." Naruto shrugged.

"You've changed a lot since back then." The dark haired boy said.

"Back then?" The whiskered Genin asked.

"You know, before you put Sakura down a peg." The loyal Uchiha answered.

"What can I say?" The blue-eyed boy gave a smirk.

"That you were an idiot?" Sasuke mused.

"Low blow, Sunshine." Naruto said.

"Stop calling me that." The black haired boy snapped.

"I will when you stop pissing me off." The whiskered boy said.

"You know, now that I think about it...I have no idea what I did to piss you off this much. I know you don't like me, but I can't figure out why." Sasuke frowned.

"Might have been your sparkling personality." Naruto answered.

"No, if that was it you would've started treating me like Sakura. Someone to work with even if you didn't trust." The Uchiha shook his head.

"Where's the self absorbed bastard I knew and loved?" The blond fake whined.

"I doubt he exists. And will you stop insulting me?" Sasuke said in irritation.

"Gee, Sunshine, I just don't know." The blond said with sarcasm.

"That's it, I am buying out Ichikaru's and banning you for life." The Onyx eyed boy said.

Naruto actually flinched.

"What...no...y-you can't!" he stammered.

"Sure I can." Sasuke said.

Inwardly he was cackling, finally he had a way to get back at the blond bastard. Sure it was a petty use of clan funds. But really, he wasn't some sort of technological superhero who needed a lot of money.

"I will murder you in your sleep if you go through with that." The blond growled.

The last Uchiha thought about this for a moment. He concluded that it was quite likely Naruto would murder him for taking away ramen. Probably better to not chance it.

"Let's just call a truce." He said.

"Alright." Naruto's hand relaxed from the kunai.

"So, why do you hate me?" Sasuke continued.

"I told you why."

"I don't buy it." The Rookie of the Year said.

"For someone who wants people to leave him alone, you don't pick up on signals well." The blond said sardonically.

"Like you said, I'm stubborn." The Uchiha smirked.

"Seriously, have you ever talked to anyone about your issues?" Naruto asked in annoyance.

"Have you?"

"My senseis."

"That seems like an invitation to mockery." Sasuke noted.

"It is, but it works." The whiskered boy shrugged.

"Well no, but..." The Uchiha began, but Naruto cut him off.

"Why the hell not? I'd be bitching about it all the time."

"It's a private matter."

Didn't he get that some things weren't for outsiders? Sasuke mentally groused.

"Is it now? I'm going to take some guesses about it then." The blond continued.

"What?"

"First guess: You feel that you should have been able to stop your brother from killing your clan. Due to his admittedly fantastic track record, you feel inferior to him. A feeling compounded by the fact that you're the only one he didn't bother killing.

"This combines with a latent sense of superiority courtesy of your clan. This makes you feel like you can never catch up and will never be good enough. Am I right?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke's fists shook with barely suppressed rage. That little guess had been closer to the mark than he liked.

"Shut the hell up." He snarled.

The whiskered boy just took it in stride and handed over a cup of water.

"That went well. Here's some purified water. My clones have found the way out."

"Really?" the Uchiha blinked.

This place was like a maze. It was supposed to take days to get out.

"Well, I may have had some help." The blond admitted.

"Help?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"I found this talking dog..." The other boy shrugged.

"Talking dog?" The Uchiha asked incredulous.

"We have the ability to make the laws of physics our bitch. A talking dog isn't that much of a stretch." Naruto said defensively.

"It might be a Summon." Sasuke conceded.

"Probably, I wish I had gotten a chance to work on mine..." The blond muttered.

"You have a summoning contract?"

Summoning contracts were rather rare, all things considered.

"Yeah...my sensei left it for me after he died." Naruto explained.

"What is it?" the Uchiha was curious.

His own clan had a contract with ravens; Itachi had taken it with him when he left.

"Owls." Naruto answered.

"Owls?" The onyx-eyed boy blinked.

"I'm not one to go for giant attacks, neither was my sensei." The blond answered.

"Still, that's one of the more exotic ones." Sasuke said.

"We can't all have giant frogs." Naruto said.

The two fell into an awkward silence. The blond broke it saying,

"Moving right along, do you just want to wake Sakura and get out of here?"

"How much farther to the exit?" The Uchiha asked.

"If my clones are right, it's about five kilometres out. I'm amazed that we have this large a cave system." Naruto said cocking his head.

"Well Iwa's supposed to have bigger, and more." The avenger shrugged.

"True. Although even money says the next war will be with Kumo." The blond said.

The two began packing up what little there was.

"Why do you think there will be another war?" Sasuke asked curious.

"Same reason we had the last one. People want things. And sometimes they're willing to kill to get it." The whiskered boy answered.

Naruto shook Sakura awake. She sat up and blinked. Then the memory of lying down on the ground screaming came back. She had been useless and weak...again.

"I'm sorry."

"You should be. A ninja can't afford to have a fear like that." Naruto said offering a hand.

"How often does fighting a giant spider come up?" Sakura grumbled pulling herself up.

"How often does genjutsu come up?" The blond retorted.

"What do you know about genjutsu?" She snapped.

"I know a fair bit, even if I can't do it. Knowledge is power, after all." Naruto answered.

"That sounds so cheesy." The bookworm said.

"True." Sasuke threw in his two cents.

"So what do we do now?" The pinkette asked.

"I know where the exit is. Want to get out of here?" The whiskered ninja asked.

"Hell yes!" Sakura said.

Her inner self had become a bit more dominant in the past few months. The trio made their way towards the exit.

"What were you guys talking about?" Sakura asked about half way through the trip.

"Different things and the next war." Naruto answered.

"Next war?" The pinkette asked.

"Yes, Sakura. What, you thought ninjas exist just to play tag?" The blond said tersely.

"Well, no, but a war..."

Konoha's civilian population didn't like to think of war. Sakura's parents were among the small minority that actively did everything they could to avoid it. It had been with much fear and trepidation that they had allowed their daughter to join the academy. But they had been confident she would wash out. She hadn't.

"War is how we justify our existence. No war no need for ninjas. And we cost money. The Daimyo's aren't our friends as it is. We need to have reason to get paid." Naruto said channelling Jin.

"How cynical." The bookworm said.

Sakura was still the most optimistic member of team seven. Even if hanging around Naruto had caused her to develop a dry humour.

"We can't all pretend that ninjas aren't killers."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted.

"Sorry, Sunshine, didn't mean to bother you." The blond said.

"Stop calling me that." Sasuke retorted.

"Whatever you say, Sunshine." The whiskered Genin agreed.

Sakura quickly intervened.

"Before we decide to kill each other...what are we going to do to Kakashi?"

"Well, unfortunately, we can't kill him." Sasuke grudgingly admitted.

"So we have to make him wish he was dead." Sakura continued.

"First, we burn the porn." Naruto said instantly.

"Then what?" Sasuke asked.

"Talk to Kurenai....if I can get her to do that genjutsu on him..." The blond trailed off.

"What?" The pinkette asked.

"Have you ever met a Jonin by the name Maito Gai?" The whiskered boy asked.

"No." The other two answered.

"Count your blessings. Trust me when I say it will do a number on him." Naruto had a feral grin.

"Okay; so we burn the porn, use Naruto's genjutsu and...what else?" The bookworm asked.

"Make it so he can't buy more porn?" The Uchiha mused.

The whole not killing for vengeance was throwing him for a loop. Which is why Sasuke's planning was less than spectacular.

"Nah, too simple; make it so he can only buy yaoi porn." The blonde shook his head.

"Wait, what if instead of just burning his porn we replaced it?" Sakura asked.

"Hmm...yeah, I could probably swing it." The whiskered boy said.

"Alright, but where are we going to get that much yaoi?" The Uchiha asked.

The other two turned to look at him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

They just kept staring. It slowly dawned on Sasuke why they were looking at him.

"I don't have any yaoi porn damn it!" He growled and stomped ahead.

Naruto and Sakura looked at each other and shrugged.

"I thought for sure he was gay." The blonde said.

"I thought he was bisexual." Sakura admitted.

"I like older women. You know, ones with an actual chest and aren't fan-girls." Sasuke shouted from ahead.

Naruto chuckled.

"You're never going to let him off the hook for this are you?" The bookworm asked.

"Hell no, this is entertainment." The whiskered boy answered.

"Has anyone told you that you're an asshole sometimes?" The pinkette enquired.

"Frequently." Naruto responded.

"You seem far too alright with that." Sakura said after a moment.

"I no longer really care about that sort of thing." The blond shrugged.

"Right."

Sasuke refused to talk to either of them. But soon they were at the exit.

"Alright your here now, let me go!" Pakkun growled.

A clone had the pug held up against the wall with a pair of kunai. One kunai was against the throat and the other elsewhere.

"Okay, Pakkun, but tell Kakashi to watch us himself next time." Naruto said as the clone dispelled.

"Brat." The dog growled and disappeared.

"Okay, so Kakashi isn't expecting us back for at least a few more days. Break and get the materials. We'll meet at Sasuke's place." The blond said.

"Oi why are you in charge Whisker boy?" Sasuke demanded.

"Because I know how to prank someone." Naruto said with a grin.

"Touché." the Uchiha answered.

The three disappeared into the night.

**Complex**

"So, where do you think the kid is?" Rikimaru asked.

"Dunno. Guess we have to find Kakashi." Jin shrugged.

"Oh joy." The scarred man said.

"Riki, you almost sound like you dislike the guy." The huge man said.

"Bah, he relies too much on that Sharingan of his." Rikimaru groused.

The pair sauntered out of the building.

"Now, now, that's what tools are for." The genjutsu user pointed out.

"To use when you need to. Not to use every time the other guy has the balls to be challenging. A trump card's no good if you use it all the time." The bald man said.

"You have to use the card sometimes." Jin argued back.

"When though?" The scarred man demanded.

"Hmm, that's a valid point. You don't bust it out whenever a pussy B-rank walks in." The bespectacled man nodded.

"They've changed the rating scales since we were young." Rikimaru said.

"Yeah, now anyone who's slaughtered a village gets an A-rank. Used to be you had to slaughter at least two." Jin sighed.

"You're just complaining because no one asked you." The other man chuckled.

The two made their way to the memorial stone. Even in the distance, they could see Kakashi.

"At least he's easy to find." The large man said.

"Pansy." Rikimaru grunted.

"Mental trauma is a funny thing, Riki, you know that." Jin answered.

"Still a pansy."

"Cut him some slack."

"Well I did like his old man." The scarred man granted.

The pair walked up to Kakashi at the memorial stone.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" The one-eyed Jonin asked.

"Quick question, where's Naruto?" Jin asked.

"Um, I have team seven undergoing a week long training exercise. One of my Summons is watching them." Kakashi answered.

"Oh good, we thought it might be serious."

Kakashi blinked. The Cave wasn't serious? Then what the hell else was?

"Anything else you guys need?"

"Yeah, let us know next time. We were going to teach him some fun poisons you can make out of things you find in the kitchen." Rikimaru grinned.

"Okay, I'm not sure if I want Naruto to know the joy of poisons yet." The Sharigan user grimaced.

"Heh, got to teach him what we can and quickly." Jin just smiled.

"Why?" The silver haired Jonin asked.

"Can't you feel it, Scarecrow? War is coming." The large man whispered.

"How do you know that?" Kakashi eyes narrowed.

"Just a hunch...my bones have been acting up."

There wasn't anything to say to that so Kakashi decided to ignore it.

"Now if there isn't anything else?"

"And we take no responsibility for whatever Naruto does to you." The scarred man smirked.

"What?" The one-eyed Jonin said confused.

**Kakashi's apartment**

"Time to set things on fire." Naruto cackled.

They had purchased a large collection of yaoi porn. Well made Sasuke purchase it. They had then switched the covers of the books. Thus the Icha Icha had yaoi covers and vice versa. That left the question of what to do with the Icha-Icha stories.

The answer was, as would be for most males, with makeshift kindling to set it on fire.

"Naruto, you are far too eager for this." Sakura sweat dropped.

Naruto didn't care, already using a pair of matches to set the paper mess on fire in a garbage can.

"Burn, baby, burn that's how daddy likes it."

"We will never mention this to anyone." Sasuke said quickly.

"Good Call." The pinkette shuddered.

**Memorial**

"You'll understand later." Rikimaru said.

The duo left Kakashi feeling vaguely paranoid.

"That wasn't ominous at all." Jin said.

"Sarcasm Jin? I'm hurt, really." The scarred man said.

"That'd be more believable if you weren't smiling." The huge man retorted.

The pair bickered good-naturedly as they returned home.

**Team 8's Training Ground**

"So, you want me to put Kakashi in a genjutsu to trap him with Rock Lee and Maito Gai?" Kurenai asked levelly.

"Yep." Naruto answered.

"Why?" The genjutsu mistress asked.

"Because he threw us into a cave." The blond said.

That explained everything didn't it.

"Look, even if I agreed that Kakashi needed to be punished, which I don't; you haven't told me why I should help you." The red-eyed woman said.

"I'll teach Hinata how to take down a Byakugan user." The whiskered boy offered.

"Wait, you know how?" Kurenai blinked.

The clans were always rather paranoid about having their skills countered. The Hyuuga were even more paranoid then the rest. They tended to discourage people with counters.

"Sure. I even have two ways." The blond said happily.

"Tell me." Kurenai said.

"What and leave me hanging?" Naruto answered.

Kurenai growled. The term 'stupid paranoia' echoed in the back of her head.

"Fine, I'll do it. But you have to teach something else to all of them."

"How to make explosive tags?" Naruto said.

"That'll do it. " Kurenai agreed.

**Kakashi's Apartment.**

"Ahh, that was a good one. Now which shall I read next?" Kakashi said putting his book away.

The silver haired man took a long look at his row of porn. Picking one at random he opened it.

Instead of finding his beloved Icha-Icha, Kakashi found a boys love story. It was explicit. Kakashi flung the book away and shuddered.

Despite what some people thought, he was not gay. He just had intimacy issues damn it!

'_Okay let's try that again.'_ Kakashi told himself. He grabbed another book.

And promptly threw it away after seeing the first paragraph. Kakashi had a horrifying thought...what if it had all been changed. The silver haired man tore through his collection.

Book after book fell into the 'unholy devil porn' pile, as Kakashi called it. When the one-eyed man was done, he looked at the massive pile.

"YOU BASTARDS! YOU DESTROYED IT ALL. DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU I SAY!" Kakashi shouted to the heavens.

He broke out into a sob. It had taken him years to build that collection. And in a single night it was all gone. The silver haired man stumbled into bed.

The next day he found himself itchy...very itchy. In places he couldn't scratch in public. As a trained ninja Kakashi was able to ignore it for a little while. But then it got worse. He had to do paperwork the entire day in the tower. Naruto had put time delayed itching powder unto Kakashi's clothes so that more and more would be active as the day went on.

As he struggled to control his desire to scratch, Kakashi wondered about his team. Pakkun would tell him if anything went wrong. But still, he was curious; how they would do with the giant spiders. It wasn't as if they were hard to kill, just bred fast. Naruto and Sasuke could handle it. None of the training areas were excessively dangerous unless you were an idiot. The damn itching wouldn't go away. Finally Kakashi just decided to go home.

"Hey, Sensei." The blond said happily.

Kakashi blinked...he hadn't noticed any signs of forced entry. On the other hand, Naruto was very good at stealth and infiltration. That still didn't explain how his student had gotten inside.

"Naruto, how did you get in here?" He asked.

"Ninja." The whisker boy said.

That explained everything. Kakashi decided to drop it and invest in some new locks and security seals later.

"Right. So why are you here?"

"Well the first is to tell you that we're all good. We're out of the cave; Pakkun was most helpful." Naruto said.

Note to self: ask Pakkun what Naruto did to make him help. Kakashi mused.

"You're a clone?" He deduced.

Naruto decided to lie.

"That I am. Since I'm feeling generous, I'm going to tell you that all of your clothes have Itching powder."

"That explains so much. But why?" The silver haired man asked.

"Well we were rather pissed at what you did." The blond shrugged.

"I needed to get you to work together on your own without my interference." Kakashi answered.

"No we get that, but tossing us into a cave?" The whiskered Genin asked.

"Alright, that might have been one of my less stellar moments. But would you have gone willingly?" The one-eyed Jonin asked.

"You're the commander, so yes. We would have bitched about it though." Naruto answered.

"Still, it worked." Kakashi said.

"Maybe...one last thing before I disperse." The blond grinned.

"What's that?" A grinning Naruto was rarely a good thing.

"Sunset genjutsu."

With that the genjutsu settled in place. Kakashi Hatake was subjected to the full force of Maito Gai and Lee's....youthfulness.

"Oh dear god!" The man screamed before keeling over.

"That was rather cruel, Naruto." Kurenai stepped out of the shadows.

Frankly, she was amazed that Kakashi hadn't detected her. Still the combination of physical stress, mental stress and talking to Naruto would be enough to distract anyone. Briefly anyway.

"Now we're even." Naruto said.

"If you say so. Now tell me how to take down a Hyuuga." Kurenai said.

"Well, thing is, that they all rely on their eyes so..." The two walked out of the apartment.

**3 Hours Later**

Kakashi lay on the floor. His team had evidently bonded to torture him. He wasn't quite sure how to feel about that. On the one hand team bonding was always good. On the other being tormented by pranks...wasn't his idea of a good time.

Although if Kakashi was honest; the fact that he wasn't crippled demonstrated that they showed some restraint. But that damn sunset genjutsu had been a bit too much.

"I shall have my revenge my little Genin."

A bird flew in.

"That time already?" He mused.

Kakashi began to plot.

**Konohagakure**

"Well it's done." Naruto said coming out of the shadows.

"Naruto, you really shouldn't jump out at people like that." Sakura gave a start.

"And you should pay attention to your surroundings." The blond retorted.

"Hn." The other member of team 7 responded.

"You didn't detect him either." The bookworm said.

Sasuke chose not to dignify that with a comment. The trio had agreed to meet here in case they had any more ideas.

"LET ME GO!" They heard a kid shout.

"Do we want to intervene?" Naruto asked.

"Probably should." The pinkette answered.

"Damn you and your sense of duty." The blond good-naturedly grumbled as they made their way toward the noise.

"It's not like you wouldn't do it anyway." Sasuke smirked.

The blond just shook his head. As they came into view, Naruto shouted,

"Oi! Drop the runt!"

"Why should I listen to you whisker boy?" The black clad ninja demanded.

"I can give you three reasons. One, only a coward would beat up a little kid. Two, there's at least one ANBU around here...along with someone in the tree. Three, if you don't; I beat you with in an inch of your life." Naruto answered.

The blond began to tap his sealed forearm. Sasuke reached into his kunai pouch. Sakura reached for her shuriken.

"Why you!" Kankuro growled.

"Kankuro, stop." Temari put a hand on his shoulder.

"But..." he began.

"If he can find our brother, then he's right about the ANBU. The last thing we need is a diplomatic incident." The fan wielder snapped.

"Fine." Kankuro said petulantly.

In front of them, a red headed boy appeared in a whirl of sand.

"What is your name?" He demanded.

"They say it's polite to introduce yourself first." Naruto answered.

"Gaara of the Sand." Gaara said irritated.

"Temari." The girl said.

"Kankuro."

"My name's Naruto." The whiskered boy said.

He hadn't given his last name. Sasuke wasn't sure why. But figured he had a good reason.

"Sasuke."

"Sak—"

Gaara cut her off.

"I don't care about you. I only care about giving good blood to mother."

"Ease up, psycho." Naruto said in defence of his teammate.

"You will prove my existence." The red head said.

It was a statement of fact. There was no room for compromise. For the first time since returning from Wave, Naruto actually wondered if he could win.

"Gaara, not now, please..." The sand kuinoichi begged.

The sleep deprived boy glared for a few seconds before relenting.

"Fine, but I will see you in the exams."

"Maybe." The whiskered boy allowed.

The trio of Sand Genin left. Team Seven looked at each other. All had felt that something wasn't quite right with this Gaara of the Desert.

"Guys...don't fight him." Naruto said.

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"That boy, he feels familiar to me. And I've never met him. I think he might have a tailed beast. That's his mother." The blond explained.

"But you don't know." Sakura pointed out.

"No I don't, but it's better for us not to risk it. Only an idiot fights blind." Naruto said.

"It's moot unless we're in these exams." The Uchiha said.

The trio had been talking quietly amongst themselves. Then Konohamaru yelled,

"Hey boss!"

The three blinked. The kid was still here?

"You talking to me?" Naruto asked.

"That was so cool boss how you told him off..." The youngest Sarutobi began.

Sakura and Sasuke took their leave, trapping Naruto into a one sided conversation with the kid. The blond mentally grumbled to himself about traitors.

"Kid, that's nice and all; but I'm not your boss. Go play with some friends." The blond said.

"I demand that you train me!" Konohamaru shouted.

Naruto gave an amused stare.

"You can demand all you like, it won't get you anything."

"I am the Honourable Grandson of the Hokage. You have to do what I say!" The helmeted kid said.

"Do I now? Last I checked, I swore an oath to serve the Hokage and Konoha. Not some arrogant brat without any manners."

The blonde's amusement faded to be replaced by a cold look.

"But I—" Konohamaru sputtered.

No one had really stood up to him except his grandfather. This was a new experience for him.

"You want to be trained? Come back to me when you're serious about being a ninja." Naruto turned to leave.

"I am serious, I have to become Hokage!" The younger boy screamed.

The whiskered boy looked over his shoulder.

"Hokage...is not for someone like you. A Hokage sacrifices all he is, all he ever could be, for the good of the village. He orders people to their deaths, lies, cheats, and steals; all for the Village. It's not a prize for a child with delusions of grandeur."

"Why you!" Konohamaru shouted.

He charged Naruto. Who promptly twisted out of the way and kicked Konohamaru, sending the youngest Sarutobi flying into some bushes.

"Like I said, come back when you're serious." Naruto said and disappeared.

Konohamaru glared...one way or another he would get that guy to train him. It was a matter of pride now.

A/N: Well here you go hope it satisfies any vengeance desires you guys had on Kakashi. I know that some wanted him crippled and for a while I entertained that. But realistically you can't do that to someone like Kakashi and not get investigated. The original plan was to have him receive the Jiraiya treatment but….

Anyways thanks to everyone who's reviewed, favourited and story alerted this fic. I can't begin to say how humbled I am by it.

A huge debt of gratitude goes to my beta DustBunnyQueen. Enjoy the story!


	12. No Giving Up

Kakashi dragged himself to the meeting. Honestly, he just wanted to get drunk; but, business before pleasure. The Sandaime gave him an amused look.

"Well now that our tardy Jonin has arrived, it's time to get down to business. As you all know, we are having the Chuunin exams here in a few weeks. Many of you have been intensively training your teams for this." The old Kage gave an evil smile. "Some of you have not. Regardless, I would ask that any of you who feel that your teams are ready and willing to attempt the exam to stand up and nominate your teams. This is your last chance." He finished.

Kakashi frowned behind his mask. Was his team ready for the exams? Well yes, going by pure skill they were all more than capable. Naruto would most likely be able to make it through the exam blindfolded. Sasuke was also extraordinarily capable.

Naruto's beatdown had motivated the boy to new heights. Even without the Sharigan, the last Uchiha was a formidable opponent to foes twice his age.

That left the last of his dysfunctional trio. Sakura Haruno: a smart girl, but not one that had impressed him over much. But despite being average compared to her teammates, she was growing into a competent kuinoichi. All in all, a solid team.

The question was, were they a team? Despite their cooperation to torment him, Kakashi didn't think so. They didn't trust each other. Not the way a well oiled team should.

Naruto still acted like a complete ass to Sasuke. Who returned the favor. Sakura mostly tried to play the peacemaker, but lacked the authority to do so.

Kakashi suppressed a sigh. Part of it was his fault. Although he had established that there was God (Otherwise known as the Hokage), himself, and then everyone else. And finally team seven. He hadn't established the chain of command in team seven.

All things considered, Naruto was probably the better choice; or would be if he didn't piss off Sasuke. But for whatever reason the blond did. That left Sasuke, who lacked the mindset, and Sakura, who lacked the power.

All logic told Kakashi that putting his team in the exams would be a disaster. But his gut said that if he didn't it would be an even bigger disaster. Having lived most of his life on the battlefield, Kakashi liked his gut. It never lied to him. Hell, it had saved him more than once back when he was in the ANBU.

Of course, there was that warning form Rikimaru and Jin... War is coming. Better to have some of the best Genin in there and able to buy some time than not.

With all of this in mind, Kakashi stood up.

"I, Kakashi Hatake, wish to nominate my team for the exams."

"They're too young." Iruka retorted.

"No, they are strong they can handle it. I was already Jonin by their age." The masked man countered.

"They aren't you." The academy teacher said.

Kakashi had to admit that was true. He nodded.

"You're right, but they have what it takes."

"Are you sure about this my eternal rival? Even I held back my team for a year." Gai piped in.

"Enough: if Kakashi feels that his team can handle it then they will get their chance." Sandaime said cutting them off.

It seemed that Kakashi had motivated the other two new Jonin sensei.

"I, Kurenai Yuuhi, will nominate my team." The red-eyed beauty said.

"I, Asuma Sarutobi wish the same."

"Very well, is there anyone else?" Hiruzen said after a moment.

Several more Jonin stood and spoke their peace.

"A bumper crop; I expect to see Konoha do well. Is that understood?" The old man said with a glare.

"Hai, Hokage-sama" The Jonin nodded.

"Very well, dismissed. You may collect the registration forms from Iruka."

The collected Jonin left in bunches. Kakashi left with his fellow rookie Jonin sensei.

"Weren't you bitching that your team was well...dysfunctional?" Asuma asked.

"Yes." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"And you signed them up for the exams." The bearded man continued.

"Trusting my gut." The masked Jonin defended.

"Your gut." The other man said in a flat tone.

"Yes." Kakashi frowned.

"As opposed to say, logic." The chain smoker continued.

Kakashi, not liking where this was going, decided to dismiss this line of questioning.

"Bah."

The other man looked at him with that odd look, somewhere between annoyance and pity. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off.

"Hey guys!" The crazy one of the group had arrived.

"Anko." They all said with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

"So, you all signed up your kids for the exams." The fishnet clad woman said.

"We believe in them." Kurenai answered.

"I'm going to have so much fun in the forest with them." Anko gave a big grin.

The others shuddered...Anko could be fun, no doubt. But you were often left wondering how you ended up in Water Country and what the hell happened to your pants.

"So that's where they're doing it this year?" Kakashi asked.

"Yep." The trench coated woman said with a grin.

"So that's a month where you and the TI division aren't able to exercise?" Asuma asked with a frown.

"Yep, no training for the division until the exams are over." Anko said with a slight pout.

"Must drive you crazy." Kakashi observed.

Anko had two jobs within the Torture and Interrogation division. One, torture people. Two, make sure the entire TI division maintained its physical conditioning and ninja skills. Anko was quite good at both jobs. But she had a special place in her heart for training the division.

Yeah a whole month without being allowed to run my people into the ground...oh well, just have to take it out on your brats. The Special Jonin cackled.

"Why does she look so happy saying things like that?" Asuma asked rhetorically.

"I love my job." Anko answered.

"Why are the hot ones all insane?" The bearded man muttered.

Unfortunately for Asuma, he was overheard.

"Hey!" Kurenai said sharply.

"Except you Kurenai-chan. Of course." The chain smoker tried to dig himself out of a hole.

He failed. Kurenai gave him a cold glare.

"You are so buying rounds tonight." She said finally.

"Walked into that one, Asuma." The silver haired man chuckled.

"Shut up." Asuma retorted as the group made their way to the bar.

**Complex**

Naruto sat at the table with Jin and Rikimaru. He had suspicions and wanted to talk them out.

"So you haven't been able to get anything on this Gaara?" Jin asked sipping his tea.

"Nothing more than supposition and that's not enough to take to the Old Man." The blond answered.

"True. Let me hear your reasoning. Why is it suspicious?" Rikimaru continued for his friend.

"First, the entire Suna group is terrified of Gaara. Now I know that age doesn't mean much, but even seasoned Jonin?" Naruto began to tick off fingers.

The older men nodded and motioned for him to continue.

"Second, even though they are terrified they won't explain why. I've drunk at least a half dozen under the table and they won't say shit." The whiskered boy ticked off another finger.

"He is the Kazekage's son." Jin pointed out.

"So is the puppet guy, and they aren't scared of him. Third...even with the exams, I haven't heard any boasting about how well they'll do." The boy frowned.

The two men looked at each other. Jin spoke,

"Alright so something is up. But do you have anything to add?"

"My chakra feels...off around him. Like it s trying to communicate." Naruto admitted.

The huge genjutsu user began to think out loud.

"Hmm Shukaku...we never did find out what happened to it."

"Do you think they managed to capture it?" Rikimaru asked.

"It's possible. Shin never did explain what he did with it." The dark haired senior said.

"Knowing Shin, he probably went and left it in Suna." The scarred man snorted.

"That does sound like him." Jin grinned.

"So if they did create another one, why wait until now to reveal it?" The bald man asked.

"Two possible reasons: One, it's fairly recent and this is his coming out party. Two, they're using him as a secret weapon." The dark haired man said with a shrug.

"Damn it we're supposed to be retired!" Rikimaru growled.

"Yeah well, we decided to train a 10 year old brat and put the kibosh on those plans." The genjutsu user gave a crooked smile.

"Will someone tell me what you're talking about?" Naruto asked irritably.

"A long time back we fought a priest who had somehow managed to control Shukaku; we were barely able to stop it so we high tailed it out of there. But despite our best efforts we don t know what happened to it." Jin answered.

"Now, there's a school of thought that says Jinchuruki are the ultimate in ninja weaponry. Like most schools it's ass retarded. Only the strongest and possibly insane minds can ever fully synch with a Bijuu. And the chances of it are fairly low anyway." Rikimaru continued.

"But they have a point; Jinchuruki like me have massive reserves. I got a bit of regeneration and better senses too." The blond Genin pointed out.

"True, but your seal is different from most others. You don't have that constant fight for control other Jinchuruki do." Rikimaru said gently.

Naruto looked down at his cooling tea.

"So, Gaara is like me?" He finally asked.

"It's possible. He wouldn't be the first kid sacrificed for power. The bigger question is, why would they send him?" Jin sipped some tea.

"Nani?"

"Think, boy." Rikimaru scowled.

Naruto still looked lost so the bald man continued.

"Jinchuruki work best if they are very public or very secret. Public Jinchuruki serve as deterrents. Secret ones serve as an opening strike in a war. This Gaara hasn't been public so..."

The blond's eyes widened.

"But they wouldn't need to worry about detection if...Suna's going to betray us, aren't they?"

"It's possible. But as we said before, we lack proof." Jin admitted.

"Should we tell Jiji anyway?" The whiskered boy asked.

"Yes. There's not a lot more we can do right now. But any prep is better than none. I'll talk to Hiruzen." The large man said after a moment.

"With that in mind; come on Naruto, it's time to kick it up a notch." Rikimaru grabbed the boy.

Naruto paled.

"Oh dear God, why?" He moaned.

Rikimaru threw an explosive kunai at him.

"Stop your bitching." The taijutsu master snapped.

**Hokage Tower**

The Sandaime Hokage looked at his old subordinate with an exasperated stare.

"Is there any reason why you seem to have made more problems for me in that last year than the previous five?"

"I blame Naruto. The kid is a magnet for this shit. Just like his old man." Jin shrugged.

Hiruzen gave a wry smile.

"True. While your suppositions are...persuasive, we lack proof."

The large man shrugged.

"We know, but a heads up is appreciated."

The Sandaime closed his eyes, thinking.

"Fortunately, we may have a partial solution. If Suna intends to attack there is little to do but wait. But, nothing says we should allow this Gaara into our midst."

"What are you planning Hiruzen?" Jin's eyes narrowed.

"You are aware that Kakashi has signed his team up for the Chunin exams?" Sarutobi asked.

Jin frowned.

"You can't...damn it Hiruzen, I don t know whether to be impressed or annoyed."

"Let Naruto know, quietly...that I would be most appreciative that Gaara and his teammates somehow failed to get to the third round." The Sandaime said.

The other man looked ready to object but said,

"Yes sir."

Hiruzen gave a sigh.

"Jin, I don t want to do this but..."

The dark haired senior held up a hand.

"I know; it's the best option. But this is shit we did back when we were adults. Naruto's tough but...God knows we don't need another Itachi."

"There is no intention of repeating that mistake." The Sandaime said firmly.

"If you say so." Jin said.

He turned and left Hiruzen alone in his office. Sarutrobi reached up and massaged his temples.

"I need a vacation." He muttered before going back to work.

**Training Ground.**

Kakashi looked at his team and tried to ignore the voice in the back of his head.

"You've managed to impress me quite well. As a reward, you can enter Chuunin exams. Just fill out these papers and meet at the exam building."

"So as a reward, you're going to place us in an exam where people can die?" Sasuke asked laconically.

"Yes...Sasuke, no back talk." The silver haired man frowned.

"So does that mean I'm allowed?" Naruto piped up.

"No." Kakashi said.

"What about me?" Sakura asked.

"No!" The Jonin snapped.

He rubbed the back of his head. Before disappearing he said.

"Anyway, I'll be around if you need me."

"So, are we going?" The Uchiha asked the others.

The pinkette looked down at the ground, her mind whirling through various possibilities. When she looked up her voice was loud and clear.

"I'll try."

"Hell yeah!" The whiskered Genin smirked.

"What about you, Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke's mind went back to what he had thought a few days ago.

**Flashback**

_You have a superiority complex from your father. _

"Was he right? Looking at myself I have to admit I was little arrogant. But no, he wasn't right. I earned my place through blood and sweat. I worked myself to the bone every day. Woke up the next day, and did it all over again.

"I got cocky and Naruto put me down for it. Can't say I liked it but...it shows that I have a long way to go. If I can't beat him then no way can I avenge my family.

"Yeah I was cruel to the fan-girls; I'm honest about that. But if I wasn't cruel then they'd never leave me alone. I am not looking for a relationship that doesn't somehow involve me learning how to kill that man.

"I am an Avenger, and until my vengeance is complete; I will not, cannot afford to be involved with anyone. There would be too many distractions.

"Tch; that bastard had no idea what he was talking about. I feel weak compared to Itachi, but who wouldn't? And I am getting stronger, and the day will come when I'll be strong enough. Then Itachi will die.

"But first I have to prove my strength."

**Present**

Sasuke's head snapped forward.

"Yes, I m in."

The other two smiled. The onyx-eyed boy turned to leave. Over his shoulder he called,

"I'm going to go train."

"Later, sunshine." The blond said.

Sasuke's stride didn't break, but said loud enough to hear,

"Grow up, Naruto."

The remaining member of team seven looked at each other.

"Did he just tell me to grow up?"

"Yep." Sakura said.

"...I m feeling conflicted now." Naruto admitted.

"Want to spar?" The green-eyed girl asked.

"May as well." The whiskered boy said with a shrug.

**Exam Building (1 week later)**

Naruto and the others stood uneasily at the entrance. In front of them sat two Jonin guarding three doors.

"You're early." One of them said.

"Thought we'd scope out the place." The blond shrugged.

"No need for that." The first Jonin said.

"Alright." The second Jonin listened into a receiver.

"Show us your forms."

"They are legitimate. Sakura Haruno, go through the door on your left. Sasuke Uchiha the door in the middle. Naruto Uzumaki the door on the right." The second Jonin ordered.

"Hai." The trio said and went to their doors.

Sakura opened the door and walked inside. A loud speaker boomed.

"Welcome Ms. Haruno."

"Hello?" Sakura said out loud.

"On that table is a paper with a piece of information. Memorize it." The voice said.

Sakura picked up the paper. It was part of an old battle code. If she remembered right, Iwa had used it during the second war. The room flooded with gas and she fell unconscious.

Sakura awoke and found herself tied to a chair. The voice from the speaker boomed again.

"Now, Ms. Haruno. Your teammates have both been given the remainder of the code. Very soon an ANBU is going to come and ask you for the code. He doesn't know it. You will have to make a choice. If you tell the code then you will advance.

"But if you do then the other two will be removed from the exam. However, the same conditions apply to them. If you all give up the code then you will be given a different exam in 3 months."

A masked ANBU walked in.

"Ms. Haruno, I require the code."

The pinkette's mind chewed over the problem. She wanted to pass...but at the expense of her teammates? Could she sell them out like that? Naruto wouldn't give it up on basic principle. But Sasuke...Sasuke might. Sakura honestly didn't know for sure one way or another. Six months ago it wouldn't have mattered. Now, now she wasn't sure if she could trust or wanted to trust her teammate. Words she had read in class came back to her.

_Teamwork is the most important thing a Genin learns. With teamwork a group of Genin can kill a Kage. Trust is the basis of teamwork. _

This was a test of teamwork...of her trust, Sakura realized.

"I can't begin to tell you what the code is." She answered.

"Are you certain?" The ANBU asked.

"Yes."

"Even knowing what can happen to you?" The other ninja continued.

"Yes." Sakura answered again.

The ANBU looked at her for a long moment before somehow giving the impression of smiling, despite being masked.

"Congratulations, Ms. Haruno, you passed the first test."

"It was about teamwork, right?" The pinkette asked.

The ANBU nodded.

"Partly, it was also about your capacity for self sacrifice. There are times as a ninja where your team must get the information back. But to do so will require you to stay behind and take the pain."

The ANBU untied her.

"I see."

"Make your way to the next room. Your teammates will be waiting for you." The ANBU gestured at the door.

Sakura walked out into the waiting room. There were many other ninjas. A quick scan showed her Sasuke and Naruto leaning against a wall. Naruto seemed a little disheveled. Sasuke seemed perfectly fine.

"Hi guys." She said.

"Sakura."

"Hn."

"Naruto, what happened to you?" Sakura asked.

"I don t want to talk about it. Suffice to say, explosives were involved and I met an ANBU who had a rubber duck." The blond said after a moment.

"What?" Both Sasuke and Sakura blinked.

"I didn't ask." Naruto answered with a shrug.

"Alright." The pinkette said after a moment.

Truthfully, she really did want to know, but expected that she wouldn't be able to get anything out of him.

"Hmm, looks like we're not the first ones here." Sasuke commented.

"The Foreign teams have nothing to do but take the test. I wonder where the rest of the Konoha group is. It looks bad if we all show up at the last minute." The whiskered Genin responded.

"Since when did you care about diplomacy?" The Uchiha said with a smirk.

"Chuunins are team leaders, and often go to foreign countries on official missions. They have to be more mindful than Jonin." Naruto explained smirking back.

"Whatever." The dark haired boy acknowledged the point.

"I wonder how the others are doing." Sakura wondered out loud.

"Huh?" The blond said eloquently.

"Kurenai-sensei and Asuma-sensei both signed their teams up." The pinkette lectured.

"Ah crap." Naruto said.

"Naruto?"

"If we're in along with teams 8 and 10 then there is no way in hell..."

Naruto ducked under a flying kick.

"Ah, Naruto, it appears your flames of youth are burning brightly." Lee called sailing over him.

"That Gai-sensei didn't sign his team up. Hi, Lee." The blond said in resignation.

"Yosh; we have overcome that most unyouthful test! In celebration I will do 100 pushups using my thumbs!" The bowl cut Genin declared.

"That's...That's nice Lee." Naruto said scratching the back of his head.

Lee was on the ground, in no position to comment.

"Is he normal?" Sakura whispered.

"Honestly? I don t know. Hell of a tai-jutsu fighter, though." The blond whispered back.

"Lee, don't run off like that!" A strong feminine voice declared.

"Morning TenTen, Neji." The whisker boy called.

"Hey." TenTen answered.

"Hello." Neji nodded.

"Sasuke, Sakura these are the sane members of Team Gai, TenTen and Neji. Neji and TenTen these are my teammates."

The two teams greeted each other. By happenstance, Sakura found herself talking to TenTen.

"So, are you the sane one of the team?" TenTen asked.

"Not really they're both pretty level head, if annoying."

"...Are we talking about the same Naruto?" The bun-haired girl asked with a frown.

Sakura nodded.

"Why?"

"Did he ever talk to you about the Wave mission?" The brown eyed girl asked.

"No, just said he did the job." The pinkette answered.

TenTen cocked her head to the side and gave a wry half smile.

"Kid detonated enough explosives to level half a village. Come to think of it..."

"What?" Sakura blinked.

"Naruto, did you use explosives during the test?" The weapon mistress asked.

"A little?" The blond said nonplussed.

"That explains the burn marks." The brunette muttered.

"Burn marks?" Sakura said.

Damn it, now she really wanted to know what Naruto did.

"Hey, you guys are too loud." A gray haired teen walked up to them.

"Are we now?" Neji asked in a monotone.

With the exception of Lee, they had been fairly quiet.

"Yes, it looks bad that rookies like yourselves did so well already. These are the best the other villages have to offer. You might be in over your heads." The gray haired Genin said.

"...Who the hell are you to make that judgment? We wouldn't be here if we couldn't handle it." Naruto said after a moment.

"I m just trying to give you a heads up." The new comer said with a disarming smile.

"Yeah, how many times have you taken the exam?" The blond continued.

"This will be my sixth time." The gray haired teen admitted.

"Huh..." Naruto frowned.

"No offense, but we don t even know you." Sakura interjected.

"Oh, how rude of me, my name is Kabuto Yakushi." Kabuto said with an embarrassed chuckle.

"Alright, if you failed six times then why warn us? Wouldn't picking us off be better for you?" Naruto continued.

"That's not my way."

"Hmm…" The blond frowned deeper.

"You don't trust me?" Kabuto said looking hurt.

"Don't take it personally, he doesn't trust anyone." Sakura said after a moment.

"Then how did you pass the test?" The gray haired Genin asked.

"There are few situations that can't be solved with judicious use of explosives." The whiskered boy answered with a shrug.

The others took half a step back.

"Naruto, you scare me some times." TenTen said.

"Oi!"

"Err, right. Anyway, I'd be willing to help out with some information." Kabuto said after a moment.

"Alright what do you have on Gaara of Suna?" Sasuke asked.

"Hmmm, our esteemed ally? Not much I'm afraid. He is a formidable opponent, very skilled in ninjutsu, smart too. He's done over a dozen B-rank missions without a scratch." The teen said.

"Now I know something's fishy." Naruto said his eyes narrowed.

"Why do you say that?" Kabuto gave an innocently confused look.

"Why would you know the mission logs for Suna? I imagine it's not something they give to random Genin." The blond answered.

"I have a friend who keeps me informed." The grey haired Genin answered.

"Right." The whiskered boy didn't buy it.

"Is he always this paranoid?" Kabuto asked with a sigh.

"Only on a mission." Sakura answered.

"Using ninja wire on the damn cat was justified, damn it!" The blond snapped.

"Settle down! No talking from now on." A loud, booming voice shouted from the front of the room.

A large scarred man in a black trench coat stood up.

The group went silent, and waited. Hours passed and they were joined by team 8 and team 10 as the sun began to set.

"Well, it looks like everyone who is coming is here. That said, there is one final portion for this part of the exam." The man at the front began.

"Simply put, in the lower two levels of the building we have hidden a hundred green balls and a hundred red balls. Without violence, obtain both. Anyone caught fighting will be thrown out of the exam. Once you have obtained both of the colored balls, return to me. I will tell you where to go for the next portion of the exam." Ibiki continued.

The collected Genin nodded.

"This portion of the exam shall last until tomorrow morning. Our Chuunin will be attempting to mark you. If you are marked, you also fail. You have one half hour to prepare." He finished.

The Rookies all looked at each other; this was going to be intense.

A/N: Hi everybody...Umm sorry about taking so long. I've been busy. (And Googledocs hasn't been my friend) anyways a thank you to Dustbunnyqueen for betaing this. And thanks to everyone who's subscribed, favourited, and reviewed. Not much to say about this chapter hope you like my version of the chuunin exams.


	13. Ready For War

"Go!" Ibiki commanded.  
The combined Genin surged through the doors. All were very careful to avoid the appearance of shoving or anything aggressive. No one wanted to be thrown out at the start.

X=X=X=X=X=X  
After the initial rush, Team Seven found themselves sidelined into a small room. In the rapidly diming darkness, they looked at each other.  
"Alright, we have no sensor types; how are we supposed to find the balls?" Sakura spoke first.

Surprisingly, Sasuke answered.  
"We're not; we're supposed to steal them."

"But Ibiki said..." The pinkette frowned.

"It's part of the test." The last Uchiha answered.

Naruto raised one eyebrow.  
"How do you figure, Sunshine?"

"Shut it Blondie. This entire test has been about infiltration. That's why they didn't use anything on us during the interrogation. No one wants to make the ninja villages angry. Now that we're inside, we have to get the information. Or balls."

With slowly dawning comprehension, the whiskered ninja said, "And Ibiki said that we were disqualified if we get caught. Damn, it's so obvious how did I miss that?"

Sasuke continued. "Which means no bodies, at least until we get a way to dispose them."

"So how does that mean we're supposed to steal them?" The kunoichi asked.

"Probably a few plants among the Genin." Naruto answered shrugging.

Sakura nodded.  
"Well that's all well and good, but I don't really want to attack anyone."

"Yeah, that Gaara...Kage Bunshin."

Three clones appeared around Naruto. With a nod, they took off disguising themselves as they did so.

"Naruto?" The pinkette asked.

The blonde waved it off.  
"Nevermind, just helping a buddy out. Anyway, this test is designed so that even most sensor types will have a hard time. Ocular sensing jutsu tend to be colour blind; making it hard to distinguish red and green. The fact that clouds have come in makes it harder. We don't even have the moon to work with."

"Well, at least it's even." Sasuke muttered.

"I wonder..." Naruto seemed lost in thought.

"Blondie?" The last Uchiha said.

A small smile appeared on the blond's face.

"Remember that Owl Contract I told you about?"

"No." Sakura said.

Sasuke said, "Blondie got a contract a while back. Apparently he can use it now."

"Scout types, anyway. Not like we have better options. Now, the thing is that you have to be absolutely quiet when I summon him." The blond said.

"Why?" The pinkette asked.

"It's just part of the requirements to summon Owls. Like Manda and human sacrifices." Naruto said.

The other two nodded. Naruto bit his thumb and started the jutsu. He slammed his hand on the ground. A cloud of smoke appeared along with a summoning circle. A small barn owl flew out of the smoke. It landed on the door sill and looked at Naruto. The blonde bowed. The owl nodded.  
The blond began using sign-language to communicate to the owl. The Owl nodded and flew out of the room.

"Who was that?" Sakura asked.

"Hane. He was in a good mood today." Naruto answered.

"How could you tell?" The pinkette said with a look.

"He didn't try to bite my ear." The whiskered Genin said.

"Ah, so what do we do now?" The kuinoichi asked.

"We wait." Sasuke answered.

X=X=X=X=X=X

Gaara was irritated. It wasn't an uncommon emotion for him. The redhead usually felt irritation or rage. It depended on how much Mother had yelled at him recently.

"Nothing in this room either." Kankuro groused.

The Jinchuriki wondered what it would be like to kill him. No, Kankuro wasn't worth the effort. Killing him wouldn't prove his existence; Gaara decided. Kankuro would never know that he lived based on a whim.

"Keep searching." Temari said.

Gaara looked at his other sibling. Temari was perhaps the only person in the world he didn't hate. That wasn't to say he liked her. But the youngest Sabaku didn't feel any real desire to kill her either.

"What up bitches?" Naruto said.

That whisker boy from before...he'd make a good sacrifice for Mother, the redhead thought.

"The hell? It's that little runt from before!" The Puppet user scoffed.

"Hey, shut it make-up boy." Naruto said.

"It's War-paint damn it!" Kankuro growled.

Making a great show of being patronizing, the whisker boy said, "Sure it is. But I'm not here to kick a three legged puppy. Instead, I'm here to talk to Racoon Boy."

"Uzumaki..." Gaara growled.

"So, Racoon Boy, how've you been? Getting enough sleep?" Naruto said unconcerned.

The redhead glared.  
"I haven't slept ever."

The whiskered ninja said slowly, "...Wouldn't that drive you insane? People need sleep in order to cope with the world. Things get weird if you don't."

"Humans might need that, but a demon like me doesn't." Gaara said

"Ahh. Well, it's a crying shame you're such a weak demon then." Naruto said.

"What did you say?" The Suna Jinchuriki demanded.

As if talking to an idiot the Konoha Jinchuriki replied, "I mean if it wasn't for the fact that Suna sucked, no one would know you exist."

Gaara heard his mother's cries for blood. And he would feed this annoyance to her with pleasure!  
"Enough talk. I will feed your blood to mother."

Naruto dodged.  
"Wow...that sand's pretty fast."

"Calm down, Gaara, we have to stick to the plan." Temari begged.

"You have a plan?" The Konoha ninja said surprised.

"I don't care about your plan. All I care about is killing this pest!" Gaara said.

He raised his hand up. "Sabaku Kyu!"

Sand surrounded the other container.

"Damn." Naruto said.

"Gaara, we'll be disqualified!" Kankuro shouted.

"Sabaku Soso!"

The sand squeezed. But instead of feeling sweet blood Gaara felt nothing.

"A clone? He tricked us the bastard!" The puppet user growled.

Gaara looked at where the clone had been. In that calm tone, gifted only to those who are truly insane; he said, "You're mine Uzumaki!"

Sand whipped around the redhead, smashing through a wall. He took off at a run.

"Gaara!" The other two shouted.  
Shaking their heads they took off after their brother.

X=X=X=X=X=X

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Naruto exploded.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Sakura asked.

With a guttural tone the blond answered. "That clone I sent off? It decided to piss off Gaara. Thing is, he killed the clone. Now that little psycho is gunning for me."

Surprisingly it was Sasuke who asked. "What do we do?"

Naruto shook his head.

"We don't do anything. I'll leave a clone here. When Hane comes back, you take him to Ibiki and pass the test."

"What will you be doing?" Sakura asked quietly.

"Keeping Racoon Boy distracted." The whiskered ninja answered.

"Like hell we will. Even you're afraid of him. I'm not letting you leave us behind." The Pinkette shouted.

Two clones came from behind grabbing Sakura and Sasuke. The clones held a cloth to their faces. Soon both collapsed on the floor.

"Wasn't giving you a choice, Sakura-chan. The chloroform should wear off in a half hour or so. Keep 'em safe boys." The blond said.

"Will do boss. Good luck." The lead clone said.

"Luck is my bitch." Naruto replied

X=X=X=X=X=X

Team Gai walked into another room. This place was a maze. Thanks to Neji, they had already found several balls. Unfortunately, they were all the same colour. The Hyuuga prodigy activated his Byakugan.

"Over there, under the desk." He gestured towards a corner.

TenTen, being closest, grabbed it.  
"Another green one." She sighed.

The pale eyed boy just shrugged. They would find the red ball sooner or later, it was fate. And one could not fight fate.

"We should keep going." He said.

"Yosh!" Lee shouted.

TenTen smacked Lee in the head.  
"Keep it down Lee. The last thing we want is for the proctors to catch us."

"Gomen, TenTen-san." Lee said formally.

The Hyuuga frowned. He had seen something out of the corner of his eye.

"Neji-kun?" The weapon mistress asked.

"There are two very bright sources of chakra coming this way." The pale-eyed boy said.

"What?" Lee blinked.

In a very non-Hyuuga manner Neji shouted, "Hit the floor!"

The trio threw themselves down to the ground. The wall exploded in a shower of sand. The trio stood up. With a nod they moved towards the new door.  
In the other room they saw two people. On one side, battered and singed, stood Naruto; across from Naruto, a red haired boy stood.

"Oh fuck you Racoon Boy!" Naruto said.

"Die, Uzumaki!" Gaara said.  
More sand came up and attacked Naruto. The blond barely dodged in time when he noticed Team Gai.

"Get out of here now! This isn't your fight." He shouted.

Lee shook his head.  
"Naruto-kun we will not so unyouthfully abandon our comrade."

The whiskered boy growled.  
"Damn it Lee...he's out of your league. And I can't cut loose if I'm worrying about you guys!"

"We can handle ourselves." TenTen said indignantly

"I'm sure you can but go. Please..." Naruto pleaded.

Neji took one look at the blond's eyes and saw many things. Anger, fear, pride all swirled around but above all, willpower. No, it wasn't Uzumaki's fate to die today Neji decided.

"Come on we're going."

TenTen looked at him in betrayal.  
"Neji-kun we can't-"

The fatalistic Hyuuga cut her off. "Uzumaki has asked us to stay out of this. I will not dishonour him by interfering. We will go find the head proctor and inform him."

"But..." Lee began.

"Get out of here; I can't hold him off for long!" Naruto shouted.

With one last look, the team took off.

The blond gave one last glance at them, then turned to Gaara and unsealed his sword.  
"Alright demon, let's see how quick you are."

"That sword isn't going to even touch me." Gaara said disdainfully.

Teal eyes widened as Naruto blurred. A sharp sting was felt. Gaara raised his hand up to his face. On his cheek was a small cut. Taking his hand away, Gaara saw blood on his fingers.

"Is this my blood?"

"Yeah, get used to seeing it." Naruto said.

The redhead began to laugh...no one had challenged him like this before. He felt alive!  
"You will make a great present for Mother!"

"Damn. That's a whole new kind of crazy." The blond said.

Gaara sent a wave of sand and the battle restarted.

X=X=X=X=X=X

Kiba gave a low growl. The loud noises had him on edge. The dog user smelled blood. With a glance he can see that his partner is afraid too.  
Akamaru didn't do fear. Despite his small size, the pup had more courage than some shinobi.

"Easy boy." Kiba said.

Akamaru gave a soft whine.

"Kiba-kun is something wrong?" Hinata asked.

The feral boy frowned. "Akamaru smells blood, a lot of it. I can pick it up too."

"B-but we're not supposed to be fighting." The heiress stammered.

Fear brought back old nervous habits. The two boys looked at her; she just looked at the ground.

"We're not. Yet Kiba-san smells blood, why? Because someone is fighting and killing." Shino said.

"Who would want to risk the proctors though?" Kiba wondered.

Again the bug user answered. "Which ninja would take that risk? Someone who thinks they have enough power to get away with it."

"Naruto could probably do it." The dog user said.

Hinata shook her head.  
"N-Naruto-kun wouldn't do this without good reason."

"You're right. But that makes me worry more." The feral boy said.

The trio fell silent. Worry overcoming them.  
Finally Shino spoke. "We should track down team seven; they may know what is happening."

The remaining members of Team 8 agreed and they quickly left the room.

X=X=X=X=X=X

Sasuke felt light headed. Why was he on the floor again? Oh right that bastard Uzumaki had knocked them out.

"Welcome back." his clone said.

"The hell?" The Uchiha muttered

"I henged into you to keep the examiners off balance" his clone explained.

"Ah so where's Uzumaki?"

"Boss is..." The clone began

A large crack echoed throughout the building.  
The clone sighed and finished.

"...About two floors up on the west side."

"Sasuke?" Sakura had woken up as well.

"Sakura" The Uchiha responded.

"Damn it...why the hell doesn't that baka trust us?" The pinkette snapped.

"He still thinks we're the idiots we we're in the Academy." Sasuke answered irritated

"So do we help him or go to the examiner?" The Kuinoichi asked.

"Right now we've got to make sure we don't get disqualified. Uzumaki maybe an asshole, but he's a strong one"

The two checked the corridors to make sure the coast was clear.

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"What?" The black haired boy replied.

"Why are you not being a jerk?" she asked.

Sasuke raised one incredulous eyebrow.  
"Jerk?" He deadpanned.

The pinkette fidgeted.  
"Naruto rubbed off on me." She explained.

The onyx-eyed boy sighed and said.  
"Because I'm tired of people trying to 'help' me work through trauma."

"Oh" Sakura said after a moment.  
"Come on, let's go." Sasuke said.

The one Naruto clone interjected.  
"Before you go, Hane came back with these."

In the clone's outstretched hand were two balls, one red and the other green.

"Thanks." the dark haired boy said, taking the balls.

The clones all nodded, choosing at that moment to dispel themselves. Sasuke and Sakura quietly snuck into the corridors.

X=X=X=X=X=X

Naruto growled as he threw an explosive note at Gaara.  
As always, the sand blocked.

The blond looked at his opponent.  
"You know, without that sand you're nothing."

"Now you die." The redhead screamed.

"A clone?" Gaara said nonplussed.

A squad of Kage Bunshin appeared surrounding Naruto.  
"Alright boys, let's cut him up!"

Gaara responded by creating a sphere of sand around himself. As the clones attacked, the sphere exploded in a hail of sand spears. The clones dispersed in a cloud of smoke.

"Oh come on, that's cheating!" Naruto whined.

The redhead raised an eyebrow. Raising his hand he made a 'come here gesture'.

"Alright..."

Gaara smiled. Finally, he had found an opponent who made him feel alive!

"Come on Uzumaki, prove how worthless my existence is...if you can."

-Flashback-

"Naruto, are you listening to me?" Jin demanded.

"Hai sensei." Naruto forced himself to concentrate.

"Even with your status, fighting a Jinchuriki head on is stupid. Unlike every other nation, we train our Jinchuriki as true ninja. This makes them immeasurably more versatile and powerful over the long term. Short term though, Jinchuriki who rely on their demon's power are stronger than Jinchuriki who don't." The big man said.  
The blonde frowned.

"So then how do I win?"

Jin shrugged.  
"Most Jinchuriki powers have a hidden flaw. For example, your ability to heal can be overloaded. Find their weakness. It's not always obvious, but the weakness is there."

-End Flashback-

What the hell is the flaw of sand? I know it turns to glass with enough heat. But I can't generate that kind of heat. Water would slow it down but I can't get any water. Naruto thought to himself.

Or can I? The steady sound of rain on the roof reached him.

"Hey, Racoon Bitch! Last one to the roof loses!" Naruto shouted.

"Damn you Uzumaki! Stand and fight!" Gaara roared.

A stream of sand shot out at the blonde, who dodged, upwards using the new hole in the ceiling to escape.

X=X=X=X=X=X

Ibiki was getting worried. Not that you could tell by looking at him. But those large noises were getting more and more frequent. It sounded like someone was punching holes in the building. To the side there was a row of television screens all hooked up into internal cameras. To keep the test relatively fair, the cameras were off.  
The head of T&I didn't know who had been stupid enough to disregard his rules. And worse, get caught...but he was going to find out damn it!

"Aoba, bring up the cameras. I want to know what's happening." Ibiki said quietly.

"Yes sir." The shades wearing man responded.

On the television screens came up images from all over the building. In several frames the walls were destroyed. However, it was the upper left corner that drew their attention. In the frame were two Genin having a running battle. One used sand the other a sword.

"That's Uzumaki and the redhead from Suna isn't it?" Shimon Hijiri mused out loud.

Ibiki glared at the long haired Chuunin.

"Yes. Sabaku no Gaara. Rumours say that he's a Jinchuriki." Aoba answered.

"Damn, look at them go." Hijiri muttered.

The scarred interrogator glared again; Hijiri wet himself.

Turning away from the Chuunin Ibiki said, "...They have violated my rules. Get me ANBU; I want both of them brought down. Tell them that as long as the two are alive, I don't care about what shape they're brought back in."

"Hai." Aoba said.

The shades wearing man disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Ibiki turned around and made his way to the door.

"Sir, where are you going?" One Chuunin asked.

"Like it or not, it's going to take the ANBU too long to get here. I know where Uzumaki's heading. I'll meet them there." Ibiki answered.

And they better pray to whatever gods they worship that they stop when I get there. Ibiki thought to himself.

X=X=X=X=X=X=X

Kiba looked at another destroyed room. Whoever did this had a lot of power.

"This is bad...whoever is fighting is very strong." Shino said slowly.

The Inuzuka resisted rolling his eyes.

"Well that's obvious. But why do you say that Shino?"

"Because these walls were destroyed by blunt force." The bug user said as he quirked his eyebrow.

Kiba's eyes widened and looked at the walls. Even the Gatsuga would have had trouble destroying them that well.

"You mean someone punched these holes?"

Shino nodded.  
"Or used an earth based jutsu."

Hinata looked on in fear.  
"That means N-Naruto-kun might be in danger!"

Again the bug user nodded.  
"It does, but can we find him in time?"

"Doesn't matter...We've got to warn him." Kiba growled.

Shino looked at his remaining teammate.  
Hinata just had a look that screamed 'hell no!' with regards to not looking for Naruto.

The bug user shrugged.  
"Let's go then."

And Team 8 continued to track their friend. Despited the confusing mess of passageways. The line had been drawn. They would help Naruto or die trying.

X=X=X=X=X=X

Naruto skidded in the rain. Finally, he had managed to reach the roof. Behind him, the door exploded outward. The blond turned to face the insane Suna ninja.

"Nowhere to run, Uzumaki." Gaara growled.

"Yeah, but I'm done running anyway." The blond answered.

"Really?" The red haired Genin said.

"Yeah...let's settle this." Naruto slid into a fighting stance.

Gaara waved his hand. A storm of sand hurled toward Naruto. The blond blurred out of sight, reappearing behind Gaara sword outstretched.

The Suna ninja looked down at his stomach. A deep red seeped into his tunic.

"You got past my sand armour? How?"

Gaara looked up at the sky, feeling the water fall on to him.

"The rain...clever, Uzumaki, but you should have killed me."

"That would unleash Shukaku." The blond said.

"Perhaps." Gaara said.

Both stood looking at each other. As lighting cracked across the night sky, they attacked again.

Gaara grimaced at another cut. His sand wasn't fast enough with this rain to react. But mother was still screaming for blood. And what mother wanted, mother got.  
The red haired boy called his sand back. He would transform and overwhelm this Konoha ninja with sheer power.

Naruto looked on in disbelief as Gaara transformed, the left side of the Suna ninja becoming monstrous. Deciding that letting his opponent finish transforming was stupid, Naruto attacked. He launched forward, aiming to cut the monster's arm off at the shoulder. Just as he was about to cut, a kunai hit his leg.

Naruto collapsed onto the floor.  
"Fuck!"

Gaara retained enough sanity to grab Naruto in a cocoon of Sand.  
"Well Uzumaki, looks like my existence has meaning."

Naruto glared.

"Truthfully you're the first person to ever hurt me." Gaara admitted.

"Good for me, I guess." The blonde said sardonically.

"Are you going to beg?" The redhead seemed eager.

Naruto snorted.  
"No, do it you bastard. Go ahead kill me. Kill the only person who could understand what you went through."

"Understand?" Gaara raised an eyebrow.

Maybe I won't kill him that fast. The red head mused.

The whiskered Genin gave a wry smile.

"You know that I contain the Kyuubi no Kitsune in me. I know that you contain Shukaku. I know that, like me, you grew up hated."

"Did you?" The insomniac boy said.

"I doubt I had it as bad as you. My Kage likes me. But I know what it's like to go on the street and have everyone turn their face. To go to a playground and have every kid run screaming.  
"To shout at a person 'Look at me! Please look at me damn it!' and have them turn away. But you know where we're different?" Naruto said.

"I'm sure you're going to tell me." Gaara said sardonically.

"Yeah, well every man gets his last words right?" The blond asked.

"Really?" Gaara said perplexed.  
When did that rule come into effect? The Suna Jinchuriki wondered.

"Yes. Can I continue?" Naruto said.

"I guess..." Gaara answered.

"Thanks. We're different because of how we reacted. You took all their hate and gave it back with a side order of crazy. Me, I decided that I wouldn't hate. That I wouldn't let those bastards win. I would be better than them. When all was said and done they'd have to acknowledge me." The whiskered boy finished.

"Yes, because being a foul mouthed Genin is showing them all." The redhead said.

"I got distracted." Naruto admitted.

"Goodbye...oof"  
Gaara grunted as the wind was knocked out of him.

Standing in front of Gaara, was Ibiki.  
"Stand down Genin." The man growled.

"You would get in my way?" The redhead demanded.

"I would." Ibiki said.

"Then you will die too!" Gaara said.

He began to raise his hand and screamed.  
"I just supercharged your nerve endings. Even moving your arms a little will cause immense pain." The Torture specialist explained.

"I will kill you..." the Suna Genin growled.

"Stand down, Gaara." Ibiki demanded.

Gaara responded by sending a spear of sand.

The scarred Jonin smirked.  
"It's always so much fun dealing with the tough ones."

Ibiki's hands flew in a series of hand seals.

Gaara felt his heart race and his lungs burn.

"This genjutsu takes control of your lower brain functions. If you don't stand down, I'll make your heart pump so fast it explodes. Understood?" Ibiki asked.

The redhead nodded, dropped to the ground, and released Naruto.

"Thanks, Morino-san." Naruto said.

"Don't think you're not in trouble either." Ibiki growled.

"Indeed." Hiruzen Sarutobi appeared.

Surrounding the Hokage was a squad of ANBU.  
"Hokage-sama" Ibiki said.

"Restrain the Suna Jinchuriki. We will send him back to Suna after the exams are over. I will deal with ours." Hiruzen said in a low tone.

"Understood, sir." an ANBU said.

"Naruto, with me." The Sandaime barked.

Naruto winced but followed.

X=X=X=X=X=X

Hiruzen took Naruto to the Hokage Tower. Sarutobi sat down but didn't offer Naruto a seat. For a period of several minutes, the Sandaime just glared.

Finally, with aggravation dripping from every word, he said, "Naruto you were asked to discreetly prevent the Suna team from reaching the final round. Where in that does it say: Tear up the exam building and nearly kill the Kazekage's son?"

Naruto flinched at the rebuke.

"I am waiting." Hiruzen demanded.

The blonde sighed. There really wasn't any way out of this.

"Nowhere sir."

The Sandaime nodded.  
"Ah, good. No you can tell me how Suna is going to react to this? How our Daimyo is going to react to this?"

"Poorly?" Naruto answered.

"That is an understatement. At the very least you have strained the Alliance to the breaking point. That's if you haven't broken it outright. Regardless the Daimyo will be furious. Costing us funds that we need." Hiruzen said.

"I thought they were going to betray us? Wouldn't the Daimyo let it go then?" The whiskered Genin said confused.

The Sandaime clasped his hands below his chin.  
"We think they are Naruto. We don't have proof; all we have are suppositions and suspicions. And none of them are enough to justify a war, especially not to the Daimyo. Thanks to your actions, our enemies now have a propaganda coup if they realize it." He explained slowly.

"I did the job." The blond said.

The Hokage nodded.  
"Yes you did, using perhaps the worst possible tool to do so. Violence is, and always has been, just a tool. One I see you have become far too enamoured of."

"No I haven't." Naruto said defensively.

Hiruzen quirked an eyebrow incredulously.  
"Really? Did it not occur to you that there was a host of better ways to accomplish your task? Prevent them from gaining the balls. Cause them to get tagged by a proctor, the list goes on. But rather than be subtle, you chose the most violent solution."

Internally, Naruto scowled. Outwardly, he pasted on a neutral expression.  
"Yes, sir, because that was the only thing I could guarantee working."

The Sandaime nodded and lowered his hands.  
"Which shows just how limited you've let yourself become. And because of that, you and your team are disqualified from the rest of the exams."

The blond barely kept himself from shouting. "But Hokage-sama, it wasn't their fault."

"Are you or are you not a member of Team Kakashi?" Sarutobi demanded.

"I am." The whiskered ninja admitted.

"Then as a team you share the blame, understood?" Hiruzen asked

"I do." Naruto nodded.

The Sandaime's glare lessened slightly.

"However, given that it wasn't their fault they will be allowed to try again in six months. You, on the other hand, will have a one year ban from the exams."

"But..." Naruto began to protest.

Only to have Sarutobi cut him off.  
"You are dismissed, Uzumaki."

Stiffly Naruto bowed. A dark aura surrounded the blond. He turned and stormed out of the tower.

Hiruzen leaned back and lit his pipe. As the pungent smoke filled his lungs he thought, _Sorry Naruto but you need to learn that there are more solutions than violence. And that your actions have consequences far beyond what you could predict. I hope in the future you will forgive an old man for his words_.

His thoughts were interrupted by a Chuunin opening the door.  
"Sir, the Suna Jonin is demanding to speak with you."

Suppressing a sigh Hiruzen said, "Send him in."

It was going to be a long night.

A/N:

Hey ever body. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. No real excuses for the delay this time. Anyways a huge thanks to DustBunnyQueen and doomlewa for betaing this. And thank you readers because this story has passed the 500 review mark. Which is way more than I expected for this fic. So again thanks.


	14. Master of Puppets

Naruto stalked into the complex. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had been this angry. What the hell was the Old Man's problem? He had done the god damned job. Okay, not in a...discreet way. But it didn't give the Old Man a good reason to go off like that, Naruto thought.

The blonde made his way into the dojo and began punching one of the training bags.

Behind him, Rikimaru came up.

"You're back early," he said.

Punching the bag hard, Naruto snarled.

"Bastard threw me out of the exams."

"Oh? That is unexpected. You completely fuck up that mission, then?" The bald man asked.

Stopping mid punch, the blonde said,

"What? Why would you think that?"

Rikimaru shrugged.

"Because Hiruzen isn't the type to do something like that for no reason."

"The hell he isn't," Naruto growled and resumed punching.

"Why don't you tell me what happened? Then we'll decide if Hiruzen was out of line." The scarred man asks.

Between punches, the blond said,

"Well, the Old Man wanted me to take the Suna team out. So I taunted Gaara into fighting. Bastard was a little crazier than I expected. We played tag to the roof. I almost took him down. But before I could finish it some bitch hit me with a kunai. That kunai let Gaara get the upper hand on me."

"Then what happened?" Rikimaru prompted.

"Well, the examiner showed up, made Gaara free me. Then the Old Man arrived. The Old Man took me to his office and tore me a new one. Threw me out of the exams, banned me from any future exams for a year, and left me holding the bag. " Naruto said, finishing with a heavy punch.

"Ah, I see you've met Sandaime," the short man said.

"Who?" the whiskered boy asked.

"Did you really think, Naruto, that you can run a village like Konoha while being as nice as Hiruzen normally is?" Rikimaru said.

Naruto thought about that for a moment before saying,

"Well...no, but I always thought he did somehow."

"Hiruzen generally is a nice a guy. Hell, he saved my ass a few times. But there's another side to him that most people don't see," the old taijutsu user said.

"Yeah?" The whiskered boy said.

Naruto was confused.

"When things are just messed up, a different guy comes to the fore. We always called this other guy Sandaime," Rikimaru answered.

"What, like multiple personality disorder?" the blonde asked.

The bald man shook his head.

"Nothing nearly that clichéd. No, Sandaime is an aspect that Hiruzen created to deal with all the dark shit he deals with daily."

"Oh," Naruto said, feeling rather silly.

"Now, Hiruzen is one of the nicest men you could ever meet. Sandaime? He's a cold, hard bastard who will happily sell you out if he thinks it's for the greater good. No method is too extreme," Rikimaru continued.

The blond hazarded a guess.

"So, Sandaime was in charge then?"

The scarred man nodded.

"Hiruzen usually keeps that part of himself on a tight leash. Even tighter since the Kyuubi Incident. But when he lets Sandaime out, it's not pretty."

Naruto felt his anger flare back up. The punching had helped, but it still simmered below the surface.

"So, what, Sandaime set me up?" he demanded.

Rikimaru reached back and cuffed Naruto hard in the back of the head.

"Naruto, stop being a dumbass."

"Oww, what was that for?" Naruto said, holding his head.

"For being a dumbass. That was supposed to be a black op. Even if you succeeded, it was never going to be acknowledged officially. Black Ops are always disavowed, always; and given the potentially massive cock up you made, you got off easy." Rikimaru said, annoyed.

"What?" the blond said, nonplussed.

With visible frustration, the old man explained.

"If we're going into war, then the exam ban is a slap on the wrist. You'll be given a wartime commission to chuunin. That will mysteriously not revert after the war is over. Given that the Suna Jinchuruki is here..."

"We probably are going to war. Then why?" Naruto said still somewhat confused.

"Because the last thing we need is for the Daimyo to have another reason to try to obtain full control. This guy is pretty new. It's only because of his advisors he hasn't already made a play for power," The bald man said.

Naruto had heard some of this from Jin earlier. But he hadn't thought it was that much of an issue. He looked at his sensei expectantly.

Rikimaru explained.

"The relationship between Konoha and the Lord of Fire has always been...contentious. From his perspective, he has a largely independent group of violent mercenaries who have the potential to overthrow him.

"All things considered, he'd much prefer if we were directly under his command and his ninja were loyal to him rather than to some shadowy super ninja.

"You nearly starting a war gives him just one more reason to demand that we come directly under him."

"Oh." The blond now felt sheepish.

"Add to that Suna potentially demanding your head...," the bald man began.

"But they sent a jinchuruki and nearly killed me," Naruto retorted.

"Doesn't matter. Kumo demanded Hiashi's head after the Hyuuga incident. Even though they were the ones who broke the treaty protocol. Kumo wasn't even allied with us. Suna is.

"From Suna's view, you are a very talented genin who nearly killed their super-weapon. They won't take that lying down. Your punishment gives Hiruzen a reason to tell them to fuck off."

The blond jinchuruki frowned. Looking at it that way, he could understand the Old Man's reaction. Still, he was pissed that he had been... used that way. Rikimaru apparently caught that.

With a sigh, the scarred taijutsu user said.

"Naruto, he asked you to do this job, not ordered. If you didn't do it, then he would have arranged something else. You volunteered. That means that if, and when, you screw up by being a dumbass, then you take the blame."

"It's not fair," the blond said, annoyed.

"Politics rarely are," Rikimaru agreed.

Naruto couldn't deny that. His anger spent, Naruto now felt drained. How was he going to explain this to his team mates? His sensei was right; this was a black op, meaning he couldn't tell them the truth.

Both of them would be pissed, and Naruto couldn't blame them. He had gone off half cocked, and his team paid the price. He didn't want to think about this anymore.

"Do we have any Fire Water left?" the blonde asked.

"Yeah we have some," Rikimaru answered.

"Can we hoist a few?"

The scarred man looked at his student for a long moment before saying.

"Alright. Just don't make a habit of this."

The pair went off to find Jin. After they did so, they drank long into the evening.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Naruto groaned. His head was pounding, and who the hell decided that a spotlight right there was a good idea? Oh, wait, that was the sun.

With effort, the blonde forced himself up.

"What the hell are you doing in my room?" A loud voice shrieked.

Naruto winced and clutched his head.

"Keep it down, crazy lady. I don't know...come to think of it, where am I?" he said.

The voice was marginally quieter.

"You're in my apartment, you little bastard!"

The blonde thought about that for a second.

"Oh...that explains nothing. I'm sorry for this."

Naruto opened his eyes to see an older woman wearing fishnet and a trench coat. The blond was almost certain that out of Konoha she violated public decency laws.

Finally, the woman screeched.

"Why are you even here?"

Naruto clutched his head tighter.

"Stop yelling, please! My head feels like it went a few rounds with Maito Gai and lost."

"You're underage; how'd you get drunk?" She demanded.

"The normal way," the whiskered boy answered.

She huffed in irritation and asked

"How much did you put away last night?"

The blond thought about that for a second.

"Two cases of Fire Water? That sounds about right."

"And you're not dead because?" the woman seems rather surprised.

"I have one hell of a liver," Naruto answered.

"That's it?" the fishnet wearing woman asked.

"Lady, you know what's inside of me. What do you think?" the blond snapped.

Anko surprisingly didn't take Naruto's head off. She'd dealt with hangovers before and decided to cut some slack.

"You mean the fox gives you super drinking powers?" She asked.

"No, just an accelerated healing rate and limited immunity to most toxins. Which is what alcohol is, technically speaking," the whiskered boy said.

"Ah," the spiky haired woman said.

Naruto said, "Again sorry about this."

Before staggering out of the apartment.

Anko pulled out some dango and chewed on it. Interesting kid...shame he's out of the exams, she thought.

No one had successfully broken into her place in years. That a kid bombed out of his mind could was unexpected.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Naruto dragged himself into the Ichikaru Ramen Stand. He looked like a mess.

Ayame gasped. All but shouting, she said

"Naruto-kun! What happened to you?"

"Ayame-neechan, please be quieter. Got drunk; the hangover is kicking my ass," the blond said.

With a frown, the ramen girl said,

"Naruto-kun, you're too young to drink."

The whiskered boy shrugged.

"I know. Can I just get some food, please?"

The waitress sighed and gave an exasperated smile.

"Hold on, I'll get some medicine for that headache," she said.

"Have I ever mentioned that I love you?" Naruto said.

"Love me later," Ayame replied.

She went into the back of the ramen bar. After a few minutes, she came out holding a bottle in one hand; in the other hand was a small bowl of noodles.

"Here. Why were you getting drunk, anyway?" she asked.

Naruto downed the bottle. After swallowing, he said,

"I got thrown out of the chuunin exams. I've got to explain to my team why I just cost them a promotion."

"Oh...they won't be happy," the waitress said unnecessarily..

"Damn straight. I just didn't want to think about it, so..." the blond trailed off.

Ayame lectured,

"Running away from your problems isn't going to help."

"Nee-chan, you know me. I'm not happy dealing with this sort of stuff. I'd rather train or something," Naruto said.

"Part of being human is this stuff, Naruto-kun," Ayame said gently.

The blond shrugged but conceded she was right.

"You've got a point," he said.

"So, what are you going to do?" the waitress asked.

Naruto finished his noodles and said,

"The only thing I can do. Explain as best I can and hope they don't try to kick my ass."

"What did you do, anyway? To get kicked out of the exams, I mean," Ayame said.

"Got in a fight I shouldn't have. It was for a good reason, but the rules don't allow fighting," the blond said with a sigh.

"If the rules don't allow fighting, then why...," the ramen girl trailed off.

"Did I start a fight? I got cocky and arrogant. Thought I could get away with it. I couldn't," Naruto answered.

Ayame considered that for a moment. She decided to reassure her friend.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll get your chance, Naruto." she said.

Naruto gave a wry smile.

"Hope you're right, Ayame-neechan. Thanks for everything."

Naruto left some ryo on the counter and left.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Naruto returned home and showered. Feeling somewhat better, he prepared to go talk to his team-mates.

A loud knocking came from the door. A somewhat confused Naruto opened the door.

Sakura punched him in the face. Naruto staggered back.

"Oww...I won't say I didn't deserve that, but damn."

Sakura nodded and came in. Sasuke was right behind her.

"Good. Now that we've got that out of the way, what the hell is your problem?" she asked.

"You've been holding back in our spars. Both of you, take a seat. I should have some tea around here," the blond said.

The two sat, and Naruto busied himself in the kitchen. After a short time, he came back with three cups of tea. Sitting down, he asked,

"Alright, you know that Gaara is a jinchuruki, right?"

Sakura and Sasuke both nodded.

"What do you think Jinchuruki's are normally used for?" the whiskered genin asked.

Sakura frowned in concentration.

"According to what little there is, they're meant to be weapons."

Naruto took a long sip of tea before he said,

"Yeah. Jinchuruki's are generally used one of two ways."

"Which are?" Sasuke asked.

"One way, as deterrents to attack, which means they're publicly known about. Kumo and Mizu both use this method. No one wants to attack a village where they're going to have to deal with a jinchuruki trying to destroy them." Naruto explained.

"And the other?" The Uchiha prodded.

"The other method is as a weapon for the initial strike in a war. Not to sound arrogant, but if I were to let the Kyuubi out, I could probably destroy most minor countries. This method only works if the enemy doesn't know about your jinchuruki. We didn't know about Gaara."

The pair processed what the blond had said.

"Wait, you risked everything on a suspicion that Sand would attack? That's crazy; they've been allied with us since the end of the Third War," Sakura said.

"From what I hear, the Wind Daimyo has really put the screws on them. When you're desperate, any plan begins to look like a good one. Especially if they have this secret jinchuruki that no one knows about," Naruto said with a shrug.

The other two looked at each other and nodded.

"Alright, you have a point. You still shouldn't knock on your own team mates and run off," Sasuke said.

"We're not the same rookies who graduated from the academy. You shouldn't be risking our careers on a guess" Sakura said annoyed

"It wasn't a guess." Naruto said

"You don't have any proof." The pinkette retorted

"I trust my intuition" the blond replied.

"Because that worked real well." Sasuke said sarcastically.

"Shut up I trust my instincts" The blonde snapped.

Sakura and Sasuke gave him a very pointed look.

Naruto took a deep breath and calmed himself.

"Alright I'll do one thing either of you ask. As long as it doesn't betray Konoha and is something I can reasonably do. So no Sasuke I am not going to set you up with Kiba's sister."

The dark haired boy blinked nonplussed.

"I wasn't going to ask that but okay."

"Good because I think she's seeing someone." The whiskered ninja said

Sakura growled.

"Back on topic. We're still pissed. I understand why you did it, but for the love of Hotei make sure you have evidence before you do it again. Also don't cut us out next time."

"I can't promise that. But I will promise to consult with you before I do something like that again." Naruto replied.

"That's the best I'm going to get isn't it?" the pinkette asked.

"Yep," the blond said.

"Alright," She agreed.

A loud thunk sound came from the window. Naruto got up and opened it. Beneath the window was a kunai with a note attached. Naruto pulled out the kunai and grabbed the note.

"What's it say?" Sasuke asked.

"Meet at the normal place tomorrow," the blonde said.

Sakura shook her head.

"Kakashi-sensei might be pissed at you, too."

"Really? Never would have guessed," Naruto said sarcastically.

"Okay, I've got what I wanted. I'm going to train," Sasuke said.

"See you tomorrow, Naruto," Sakura said.

The pair left, leaving Naruto alone in his apartment.

"That went better than expected," the blond thought out loud.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Naruto arrived at the bridge. The meeting point was somewhat isolated. Naruto half expected that it was out this far just to give Kakashi an excuse to be late. His team mates had gotten here early.

"Hey," he said.

"Uzumaki," Sasuke nodded.

"Naruto," Sakura replied

"So, anyone want to spar or anything?" the blond asked.

Sakura shook her head.

"Nah. Kakashi-sensei is probably going to work us like dogs."

"Are we talking about the same perpetually tardy and perverted sensei?" the whiskered boy asked.

"Point." The pinkette shrugged.

The trio waited for some time. Without warning, a massive snake tore through the part of the bridge Naruto was standing on.

"Holy crap!" Naruto shouted as he got hit. The force of the blow sending him flying.

"Naruto!" Sakura said in surprise.

The snake continued after the whiskered ninja. Said ninja had landed in a field. Standing up, Naruto pulled out his kunai and snarled.

"Oh, it is on you, fucker!"

Naruto then leapt at the snake, intent on killing the serpent. The snake dodged the blow, hitting Naruto hard with it's tail. Instead of letting go, the blond stabbed with his kunai. His death grip on the piece of metal let him stay with the snake.

The snake continued to whip its tail around, trying to force Naruto off. The whiskered boy managed to stab again with another kunai.

Almost as if climbing a cliff Naruto crawled up the snake, using his kunai as rock spikes. The blonde reached the snake's head.

With a roar, Naruto drove the two kunai into the snake's eyes. The snake thrashed about even more, throwing the blond off into a tree.

The whiskered boy forced himself to stand. The snake disappeared into smoke.

"A summon...I've got to get back to the others," the boy whispered.

While Naruto fought the snake, Sasuke and Sakura stood on the half destroyed bridge. On the other side of the bridge, a pale, androgynous figure stood.

The figure leaped and landed in front of them. Up close, it was clear that the figure was male. A disturbing smile was etched on his face.

"Well, Sasuke-kun...let's see those beautiful eyes. I want to see the power of the Uchiha." He said in a silky voice.

Sasuke looked at him and asked,

"Who are you?"

The man launched forward and punched Sasuke off the bridge into the creek below.

The Uchiha staggered to his feet, spitting mud and wiping the algae from his eyes. He shouted upwards.

"Sakura, get help. This guy is strong."

"But, Sasuke..." Sakura said.

"Do it!" Sasuke shouted.

The man smirked.

"Oh, I don't think so."

He whipped his leg into Sakura. The kick sent her flying into Sasuke, who caught her.

"You okay?" he asked.

He needed all the help he could get, after all.

"I think I cracked a rib," the pinkette said.

The Uchiha frowned.

"Alright, hang back. Try to take pot shots when you can."

"Can we beat him?" Sakura asked.

"We pretty much have to, don't we?" Sasuke said with a calm he didn't feel.

The man jumped down to them. A sick smile appeared on his features.

"Come on, Sasuke-kun." He said.

"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded.

Sakura, who had managed to stand, said,

"Sasuke, the only snake summoner I know of is..."

"Orochimaru." The Uchiha finished.

"Very good." Orochimaru said, happy.

Sasuke suppressed the urge to gulp nervously. He couldn't fight Orochimaru. A Sannin versus a Genin? No contest. But he had no choice.

Calming himself down, the Uchiha heir settled into a fighting stance.

Orochimaru opened with a controlled jab. Sasuke jerked his head to the side and threw his own punch. The snake like man just took it. Orochimaru's hand pulled Sasuke down into a knee strike. The pale man then pulled away from Sasuke.

The onyx eyed boy fell into the mud again. He suppressed a groan. Sasuke figured that at least one of his bones had been broken. Five seconds, and he had been dropped.

"Pathetic...I expected so much more from the Uchiha," the snake master said.

"Shut up." Sasuke snarled.

The boy's pride forced him to stand. Ignoring the pain and mud Sasuke settled into a stance.

Orochimaru just gave an annoyed look. His eyes narrowed and a terrible killing intent filled the air.

An image of him being killed in an instant overwhelmed Sasuke. He was terrified; he couldn't move. The man was just so powerful. The stress was overwhelming; there was no way out.

In Sasuke's eyes whirled the Sharingan. Twin tomoe stood out. It was enough for the illusion to shatter. The appearance of his bloodline gave Sasuke confidence.

"So, you do have the Sharingan. Perhaps your worthy of your name after all," The pale man said, surprised.

Sasuke didn't reply, choosing to throw a brace of kunai instead. Orochimaru dodged with ease.

"Really, Sasuke-kun, do you expect such tricks to work on me?" he asked, disappointed.

The Uchiha smirked as a massive explosion erupted below the Snake user. Sakura had been placing tags the entire time rather than directly helping. Now Sasuke was going to put them to good use.

"Well...well that was unexpected. You're not much, but you do have some potential." Orochimaru appeared above him on the bridge.

Sasuke's head whipped upwards. Not taking time to wonder how the pale man escaped, he launched a fire ball upwards.

Orochimaru collapsed into a pile of mud, even as the bridge was destroyed by the fire.

"Even with the Uchiha blood flowing true, you're still this pathetic. Your brother, now there was a ninja." A voice came from behind.

Instinctively, Sasuke used a kawarimi to switch with an errant piece of wood. It was the only thing that saved him from a barrage of snakes.

"Shut up. You don't know anything," he snarled.

With a flurry of punches and kicks, Sasuke attacked Orochimaru head on. With one hand, the pale man blocked every blow. Nonchalantly, Orochimaru grabbed Sasuke and threw the boy into the bridge foundation.

"Oh, but I do, Sasuke. And I know that you will never achieve your ambition at this rate. Let me help you," Orochimaru said

The Snake Sannin's neck extended and launched at Sasuke. Orochimaru bit Sasuke on the neck. The Uchiha screamed and collapsed.

"Tell Sasuke-kun that if he wants more power, he'll have to seek me out," Orochimaru said in Sakura's general direction before disappearing.

Sakura made her way over to Sasuke.

"Sasuke..." she said.

She started checking his vitals. He was running a fever and seemed to be on the verge of chakra exhaustion. Naruto came back, covered in snake guts.

"Sakura, what happened?" He asked.

"Orochimaru attacked us. He did something to Sasuke," Sakura answered.

The blond grimaced.

"Damn. Let's get him to a hospital."

"Why did he attack us?" she asked.

Naruto shrugged.

"I don't know, Sakura. I just don't know."

They began to prepare Sasuke for transport. They created a makeshift stretcher from the broken wood and Naruto's jacket. Just as they got Sasuke on the stretcher, a woman arrived.

"Where is he?" she demanded.

"Crazy lady?" Naruto said, nonplussed.

"Not now, twerp. Where's Orochimaru?" Anko growled.

"You just missed him," the blond said.

Anko swore several times under her breath.

"Can you take a look at my teammate, ma'am?" Sakura asked timidly.

"Alright." The purple haired woman said.

Anko looked over Sasuke. She stopped when she saw the three tomoe on his neck.

"Damn, not again..." she muttered.

"Crazy lady?" Naruto asked.

"The name's Anko," the older woman growled.

The blond nodded, saying,

"Sorry, but what's going on?"

"That bastard gave your friend a Curse Seal," Anko explained.

"A curse what?" Sakura said, confused.

Naruto shrugged.

"I don't know anything about it. Shin-sensei never really went over seals with me."

The trench coated woman frowned. She wasn't sure she should tell them what happened.

"Well, I have to ask the Hokage—"

Naruto cut her off.

"Anko-san, our team mate has just been violated by Orochimaru. We deserve to know what's happening."

"And if I told you that the bastard only gives it to those he believes will follow him?" Anko asked coldly.

"Then we'll deal with it. We won't abandon him just for that." Sakura responded.

The purple haired woman briefly scowled before giving a sigh.

"Fine. I'll tell you, but you won't like it," she said

"Very little in the ninja world is about what we like," the blond said.

Anko gave a bitter laugh.

"The Curse Seal is something the bastard came up with just before he left Konoha. I don't know how he made it, but it does a lot of things."

"Such as?" Sakura prompted.

"For starters, it makes you want to call on the Seal. The Seal, if used, grants a massive chakra boost for some time, mimicking what unlocking the first three Hachimon do." Anko said.

"I take it there's a catch, though." Naruto responded.

The trench coated woman nodded.

"There is. Using it causes changes to one's mind and body. The seal makes one more...violent, angry, and less inclined to be rational. That's in addition to the attempted loyalty bond it makes."

"Attempted?" the blond said warily.

The spiky haired woman nodded.

"If a person is inherently more loyal to something or someone else, then that won't change. But if a person isn't, the seal will try and make them loyal to the bastard."

Naruto and Sakura nodded in comprehension.

"Not done yet," Anko continued.

Sakura's eyes widened in disbelief.

"There's more?" she said.

"Yes. If you are loyal to anything besides Orochimaru, the seal will eat away at your mind every time you use it. That's why I never use it. The mimicry isn't that successful, either; it still does damage to your body." Anko said.

"Damn, all that from one seal." Naruto said, frowning.

"And now your friend here is sealed," The older kuinoichi agreed.

"Is there anything we can do?" Sakura asked.

Anko shook her head.

"Not unless you know how to break seals."

"Alright, we'll take him to hospital," Naruto said.

The trench coated woman asked.

"Who was with him when it happened?"

The blond answered.

"Sakura. I was busy killing a giant snake."

"Alright, pinky, come with me. We've got a report to make to the Hokage," Anko said.

Sakura was clearly unhappy with leaving, but wouldn't disobey an order from a direct superior. Anko grabbed her and took off, leaving Naruto alone.

Naruto frowned and created a squad of clones to carry his team mate. This was just not his week. First, he got kicked out of the exams, and now Orochimaru has an interest in his team mate.

Ironically, the one team mate Naruto was assigned to kill if things went crazy. The blond shook his head. It would be easier and probably better just to kill Sasuke now. But...Naruto couldn't bring himself to kill a comrade for what he may do.

With a collective sigh, the group made their way to the hospital.

A/N: Sorry everyone for the delay. But I had to find a new beta. It is with regret that DustBunnyQueen has left us for school. However a huge thank you to Bookworm702 and Tempest Kitsune for helping on this chapter. And a huge thank you to everyone who keeps reading this story.


	15. Yesterday

Sakura paced back and forth. An hour ago, Sasuke had been admitted to the hospital. She huffed in frustration, the fight with Orochimaru replaying in her head. She hadn't been able to do anything. The carefully prepared trap? Useless.

In the back of her mind, Sakura admitted that she had done everything she could. Given everything, she shouldn't blame herself. That didn't alleviate the sickness in her stomach. Or the cold pain in her heart. She looked over to Naruto.

He looked perfectly calm and collected. Arms held beneath the chest, eyes closed. Sakura snorted. How could he be this cold? Sure, Naruto and Sasuke didn't get along. But they were still team mates. This was Konoha, that should mean something.

Sakura turned away from him and continued to pace.

As Sakura was lost to her own internal monologue, Naruto was replaying his previous actions of the last few days. Going over his mistakes. How he had been acting like an entitled jerk. And now Sasuke might be paying for it with his life.

The blonde kept the frown off his face through force of will. The original purpose of the team was to have someone there if Sasuke went off the rails. A part of Naruto not buried by emotional training screamed that Sasuke couldn't die.

Naruto mentally snorted. He didn't know much about Orochimaru's Curse Seal. But Orochimaru's methods were well known. Survival was secondary to power. That made Sasuke's chances a lot poorer.

The two were forced to abandon their thoughts as Kakashi arrived.

"What happened?" he asked.

Sakura looked at Naruto briefly. Naruto gave a slight nod.

"After we were removed from the exams, Sasuke and I went to Naruto to find out what happened. He explained his reasons; and although I don't think they were good enough, we were willing to give him another chance.

"Then we received a note that appeared to be from you. We all assumed you just didn't want to talk to Naruto. It told us to meet up at the normal place. So we did." She said.

Kakashi nodded.  
"Alright. Then what happened?"

"We met. We started to talk when this giant snake came out of nowhere. It took Naruto off to somewhere..."

"The forest edge. I was busy killing the thing when the rest of the incident occurred," Naruto interrupted.

Sakura gave a slightly annoyed look at Naruto. Then she continued.

"As I was saying. Naruto was off somewhere else when Orochimaru arrived. He toyed with us for a little bit before administrating that Curse Seal. Orochimaru left just in time for Naruto to return. At that point, Anko Mitarashi arrived and assisted us with getting Sasuke to the hospital. That was roughly an hour ago. There has been no change."

"I see. " Kakashi said.

He let out a breath. Kakashi was disappointed that his students had failed twice.

"Naruto, I will speak privately to you later. Sakura, good report."

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, still calm.

Sakura looked at Kakashi, hoping for the some reassurance. Kakashi gave none; instead, he settled into that same calm blankness that Naruto displayed. It was so frustrating. Sasuke could be dying in there. Yet they didn't care. No. They cared, but refused to show it. Men, she thought with a snort.

A very worn out looking doctor walked into the lobby.  
"Team Kakashi?"

"Yes?" three voices said.

"I'm sorry. We did everything we could. But at 13:51 today, Sasuke Uchiha was pronounced dead." The doctor said.

Sakura felt as if she'd been hit with a sledge hammer in the gut. Death...she knew death. Her own father was dead. But somehow...it was something that happened to older people. Not to kids her age. Not to someone who was as strong as Sasuke had been. She looked at her two team mates.

Naruto's face flashed through several emotions. Anger, fear, pain and finally emptiness. For a brief moment, Sakura had really thought Naruto was going to punch the doctor.

Kakashi...was just there. Anything that hinted at life or feeling was gone from the visible eye.

Naruto broke the silence.

"Can we see him?" He asked, his voice dead.

The doctor nodded and led the trio into a patient room. Sasuke's eyes were closed, like he was sleeping, Sakura thought. But the pale and clammy skin showed the truth. A boy she had dedicated three years of her life to was dead. The first loss of the academy graduates. The one thought she couldn't get out of her head was  
_It's my fault. If I had been stronger,...__  
_  
Naruto had come to stand in front of the body.

"Not my friend...not my enemy, either." He seemed to be talking to himself.

His face turned to a snarl as his hands clenched.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked quietly.

"I'm going to train," Naruto snapped as he left the hospital room.

The sheer...venom in Naruto's voice frightened Sakura. She had always known that Naruto wasn't nearly as unemotional as he thought he was. But she hadn't thought that there was that much...anger in him. Still, she didn't blame him. She'd be angry too. If the weak link survived, and the stronger one hadn't.

"Sakura, I have to go do some things," Kakashi said without warning.

Sakura could only nod in agreement as Kakashi left. Looking down at the corpse, she felt very alone. Rubbing her arms, she stood there for a very long time. Trying to sort out how she felt. Before giving up and turning away.

"Good bye, Sasuke...kun," she whispered as tears began to stream down her cheeks.

A nurse escorted her out of the building.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Naruto grunted as he tore through more clones. Even with the injuries from the snake, he was still good to go. The benefits of having a demon stuck in your gut. No matter how many he killed, it didn't make him feel better.

His job had been to kill Sasuke if Sasuke went rogue. But until then, Sasuke was a team mate. Despite himself, Naruto found that he had let some feelings out. Sasuke shouldn't have fought Orochimaru alone. Shouldn't have been there. If he, Naruto, had been stronger, faster and smarter, it wouldn't have been an issue.

The blond viciously snapped a clone's neck. Why was he so pissed off? He had done what he thought was right. He had done what he thought was right. And that had caused a team mate to die. Because he had screwed up, a comrade, someone he was meant to protect, had died.

As he idly punched another clone hard enough to dispel, Naruto tried to figure out what he was feeling. He hadn't liked Sasuke. In fact, a part of him hated Sasuke; and yet… and yet. He still cared; for some god forsaken reason, he cared that Sasuke was dead.

Not on a strategic level, in terms of a mission failed. But because a kid like him, who had frankly had a shitty hand dealt, was gone. Not in combat, not fulfilling his dream, but because an arrogant psychopath had decided that he wanted the Sharingan. Sasuke had been the only other source besides Itachi left.

Naruto swore as a clone managed to cut his cheek. The clone was destroyed by a kunai a split second later. To be a good comrade, you had to care about your team. You had to be close to them, almost like family with long term teams.

That closeness allowed you to develop a perfect synch and teamwork within the team. With a team whose abilities were well synched already, it made a team capable of changing the tides of battle by themselves.

Naruto decapitated another clone with a well-placed kick. However, he had never let himself be that close with Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke, because one day he might need to kill him. Sakura, because there was just too much baggage. But at the same time, he let them close enough. Close enough that he cared. Close enough that losing Sasuke felt wrong. Like… well, he didn't have words to describe it.

Looking around, the clones were all gone. Naruto chided himself for losing his situational awareness.

"Still pissed off over it. More clones." he muttered.

More clones filled the training ground. As they came forward, Naruto let out an animalistic snarl.

X-X-X-X-X-X

It had taken a little under three days for Sasuke's funeral to occur. Sasuke had surprisingly left a will. In it, his desires for a funeral were made explicit. Keep it small. Only family and close personal friends.

Sasuke had no family. Sakura wasn't sure if she counted as a close personal friend. However, when the Hokage tells you to be there, you go. So, here she was standing in front of the memorial for Sasuke, wearing her formal ninja attire.

There were few others. Naruto was there, looking grim and steady. Kakashi-sensei stood to the side, dead to the world. The Hokage himself was also there, standing in standard formal uniform rather than his Hokage robes. Sakura didn't really know anyone else here.

The Clan Heads were here, of course, paying respect to the fall of one of their own. The Uchiha had not been well liked, but they had been respected. The loss of a Noble Clan was a tragedy, and so the Heads came.

Beyond the Clan heads, the only other people to come was an old lady who had apparently been Sasuke's care taker after the massacre and Iruka-sensei.

Even though it was morning, the sun still promised that today would be a hot one. Really, aren't funerals supposed to be filled with rain? Sakura wondered. She shook her head. It was still hard to think of Sasuke as dead. She had cried. They hadn't been close, but she had cared for them. Sasuke cared for them, too. Or so she told herself.

As the Hokage stepped forward to the front of the small group, he turned to look at Sasuke's picture.

"Sasuke Uchiha. You were a good man. Cut down before you had a chance to truly shine. You will be missed. For your determination. Your work ethic, and for yourself. You would have been one of the greatest ninja there were, Sasuke-kun." Sarutobi intoned.

With that, he took a white chrysanthemum and laid it in front of Sasuke's picture. Giving a slight bow, the Sandaime then turned and moved to the side. One by one, in order of age, each of those present went up and spent a moment remembering Sasuke before laying down a flower.

Soon it was Sakura's turn. She went up flower in hand. Rather than speak out loud, she remained silent.

_Sasuke, you were a standoffish jerk who hurt my heart. But, you were also my team mate and someone I knew__ I could count on. I'm sad that you're gone. I hope that you're happy now with your family on the other side. _ She thought.

Laying down the flower, Sakura realized what this truly meant. It was the end of, well, everything. The end of the hopes and dreams of dozens of girls. The end of Team 7 as it was. The end of that feeling of being young and free. The world had punched back and shown all of the academy graduates that this job was bloody and tough. Just because you were strong didn't mean you were safe.

A little over a week ago, she had decided to enter the chunin exams to prove to herself that she had grown up, but now it had all spiraled. Sakura blinked back tears even as she went through the motions and offered a short prayer.

Returning to her place, Sakura waited for the last chrysanthemum to be placed. Funerals were supposed to bring a sense of closure, Sakura reflected, but it didn't feel like it this time. Sasuke's death was going to be an open wound for a long time.

As the funeral ended, the pink haired girl found herself walking home on instinct. She really just wanted to spend time with her mother right now.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Hinata breathed heavily. Team Eight had, at the proctor's insistence, continued with the exam. Even though all of them felt that they should have helped Naruto.

The second exam had continued the infiltration theme that Shino had figured out. Simply put, they had to escape to neutral ground. In this case, the other side of Training Area 44. That was the easy part, even with the environment actively trying to kill them.

No, the hard part was the Chunin examiners. All of the chunin examiners seemed to have an intense urge to take out as many teams as possible. With her Byakugan, Hinata counted over a dozen teams that had been 'tagged' by the chunin.

Roughly forty teams had entered the forest. By her own estimate, Hinata felt that there were maybe half that left.

The Second Stage Exam Proctor had promised to take out all but ten percent of the teams. Having seen the almost ruthless skill of the other examiners, Hinata believed her.

"Man, they're driving us hard. Hinata, do you see anything?" Kiba said between breaths.

Hinata activated her Byakugan for a brief moment. She couldn't maintain it long if she wanted to conserve chakra.

"No, they're distracted by the other teams for now," she said.

"Ten more minutes, after that we have to get moving again," Shino responded.

"Hai," the other two gasped.

The trio continued to recover. Their bodies ached, their lungs were on fire. Only Kiba looked moderately fresh.

"Hey Shino, how much more ground do we have to cover?" he asked.

The bug ninja raised an eyebrow.

"How much more ground? By my estimates, we have maybe a full two days worth of travel. That is assuming that we maintain our current pace," he responded.

"Damn...it's already been two days," Kiba said.

Shino adjusted his shades.

"We were given seven for a reason."

The dog user replied, "Yeah, but at the rate those guys are moving, if you don't make it quicker than that...they pick you off."

"That is a fair point," Shino admitted.

They continued to catch their breath.

"Alright, let's pop some solider pills and move," Kiba said.

Hinata and Shino nodded, and the group swallowed the pills. Feeling refreshed by the surging energy, they take off.

Soldier Pills are perhaps the most widely used form of medical drugs in the ninja world. The pills gave the user nourishment, chakra and enough energy to make a squirrel on crack seem slow. However, the pills also extracted a price. They only delayed the onset of exhaustion, not removed it.

When the pills wore off, the user was hit with the price all at it once. Exhaustion Shock, as it was known, had killed some unlucky ninja. Still, the risks were usually worth it. Or so Team Eight hoped, anyway.

Team Eight rushed through the forest. With the combined skills of Kiba and Hinata, they had successfully avoided the Chunin examiners. They saw the goal a large gate that led out of the forest.

"Is it me, or is this too easy?" Kiba asked.

Hinata nodded and used her Byakugan.

"Kiba-kun, jump!" she shouted.

Kiba leaped to the side, barely dodging a snake. Out of the forest gloom walked Anko Mitarashi.

"Well, that's too bad," she said with a smirk.

Team Eight scrambled to face her. The trio settled into stances.

Anko's smirk grew bigger. She said,

"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting anyone here this quickly. You three did pretty good for genin."

"Mitarashi-san, you are here to prevent us from getting over the end," Shino stated.

Anko raised an eyebrow.

"I am," the snake mistress admitted.

Despite the fact that the Exam proctor freaked her out, Hinata gathered up her courage.

"Then we'll fight you," she stuttered.

"Really, girl? You three fight me?" Anko asked, chuckling.

"That plan?" Shino asked.

Kiba and Hinata nodded.

"What are you three up to?" The snake mistress asked, frowning.

"Gatsuga!" Kiba cried.

His aim was off and Anko dodged easily, landing right inside Hinata's range.

"Hakke Sanjūni Shō" she cried.

The Hyuuga heiress hit Anko thirty two times before sending the proctor flying. The snake mistress seemed impressed. As she prepared to land another voice spoke up.

"Hijutsu: Mushidama"

Instantly Anko found herself surrounded by kikaichū bugs. The bugs covered her like a shell. Draining Anko's chakra and restricting her movement. When she finally broke free Team Eight was gone.

"Damned kids. Alright, you deserve that win," the snake mistress said.

Team Eight had barely managed to reach the escape point.

"Holy crap, we got lucky," Kiba gasped.

Shino nodded and said.

"I admit that I didn't expect that to work."

Anko's voice came from above them.

"Good, because it didn't really. My clone underestimated you and paid for it."

The trio looked up and gulped.

"Mitarashi-san," Shino said.

"At ease, kids. You've passed." The snake mistress said.

"What happens now?" Kiba asked.

"Now we wait and see how many more cute little genin make it," Anko said with a grin.

"And then?" Hinata ventured.

"I'll let the third stage examiner explain that," the dango loving kunoichi said.

She then proceeded to walk down the corridor while on the ceiling.

"That lady freaks me right the hell out. Pretty hot, though," Kiba muttered.

"Kiba-kun...," Hinata gently rebuked.

And so Team Eight explored the safe area. It was a rather large house, they discovered. After a while, they sat down to wait.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Genma looked at the remaining chunin hopefuls. Anko had done a hell of a job this year. There were only twelve left.

Team Kurenai, Team Gai and somehow, against all logic, Team Asuma remained from Konoha. A Sound team rounded out the group.

"Alright, the final exam is a one on one tournament. You've proven that you've got the brains and skills to be a ninja. Now you've got to prove your prowess as a fighter. This will be a one on one tournament fight," Genma said.

One of the sound genin- Zaku was his name, Genma thought- asked.

"Wait, won't that mean in the third round there'll only be three left?"

"Correct. The third person will get a bye to the final round," the senbon chewing jonin agreed.

"So, what do we get if we win?" Kin asked.

The bandana wearing jonin smirked and said.

"Nothing, just the knowledge you can beat the crap out of something. These matches are to show off. If you prove that you make a good chunin, you might get promoted even if you lose."

He let the group drink that in a little before he pulled out a bucket.

"After you draw lots, you'll have one month to prepare." Genma said.

In order from first team to pass to last, they began to draw lots from the bucket.

"One," Hinata said.

"Three," Kiba grinned.

"Eight," Shino responded.

"Two," Neji said with a cruel look in his eyes.

"I have obtained the Youthful number five!" Lee shouted.

"Four," TenTen said with a smile

Shikamaru dragged himself up and pulled out a number.

"Six. Troublesome."

"Twelve," Chouji said nervously.

"Nine," Ino said smirking.

The bandaged leader of the Sound genin reached into the bucket.

"Seven," He said with a nasty grin

"Eleven," The female sound genin said.

"Ten," Zaku said, finishing the group.

Genma did some quick sketches on a paper.

"So, right now the match ups look like this."

Hinata Hyuuga vs. Neji Hyuuga

Kiba Inuzuka vs. TenTen

Rock Lee vs. Shikamaru Nara

Dosu Kinuta vs. Shino Aburame

Ino Yamanaka vs. Zaku Abumi

Kin Tsuchi vs. Chouji Akimichi

"Alright, may the best genin win. You are dismissed," the jonin said.

The group dispersed. Shino and Kiba were surprised to see Hinata heading in the opposite direction from her home.

Concerned, Kiba asked.

"Where are you going, Hinata?"

Hinata turned and said,

"I have to fight my cousin...I have to train hard if I'm going to do so."

The dog user nodded, glad to see that his friend was actually going to try.

"Alright, good luck. See you in the second round," he said.

The heiress nodded and continued on her way.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Shino listened to his insects. In the weeks after Team Kurenai passed the second exam, all three of the genin had tried to reach out to Naruto. However, the blond had proven particularly elusive. Shino's collar hid his frown. Hinata and Kiba had both been visibly distraught that they could not find their friend.

In truth, Naruto had changed since graduation and not, in Shino's opinion, for the better. Yes, they still occasionally spent time together. But those times had become less and less. Naruto was, whether intentionally or not, pulling away from them. Shino found that unacceptable.

As his insects informed him of his friend's location, Shino decided that it was time to rectify the situation. Yes, Naruto was probably able to out fight him. However, his friend had never been able to out think him. Yes, it was time for a talk between friends.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Naruto sat on his roof, carving wood. He preferred it up here; it felt calmer to him, and he could watch the ninja travelling over the village. Shino landed behind Naruto quietly.

"You're getting better at sneaking up on me," Naruto said.

"Your ability to evade others has also improved," Shino replied

Naruto carved a bit more into the wood before gesturing for Shino to sit beside him.

"Gotta keep growing, right?" he asked.

"Growing? Provided it is in a beneficial path," Shino said, sitting down.

"Beneficial?" Naruto asked.

Shino nodded.

"Precisely. That actually alludes to something I wish to discuss."

Naruto blew the wood scrapings away.

"Alright, let's hear it."

"It brings me no pleasure to say this. However, I must inquire as to your continued refusal to allow us to remain close to you. With our graduation, some drift was to be expected. You have exceeded expectations, and done so in such a way as to make it seem like you no longer care. So I must ask, Naruto, why?" Shino said, his voice slightly rising.

"Why what?" Naruto continued carving.

"Why are you determined to extricate yourself from any and all beneficial relationships? Why do you seem to believe that maintaining bonds with others only brings about weakness and pain? Why do you seem so self-absorbed as to not notice the pain of others?" Shino's said coldly.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto looked at Shino, confused.

"Hinata-chan is beside herself, worrying that she has done something to offend you. Kiba is actively wondering whether or not you even belong to the pack anymore. I myself have to wonder what happened to my friend," Shino answered.

Naruto went back to looking at the streets of Konoha.

"He grew up," Naruto said after a moment.

Shino raised an eyebrow.

"You call being anti-social and unwilling to accept the friendship and bonds of others 'growing up'? Have you forgotten everything we were taught in the Academy? Have you forgotten that day that Hinata and I reached out to you? How we gave you what you needed most at that moment?"

Naruto shrugged uncomfortably.  
"...No, Shino it's not about you."

"No, Naruto. It is about all of us. I have watched as you changed from a happy, if somewhat mentally challenged individual, to a depressed, cynical one. You seem to believe that to be a ninja you must be completely in control of yourself and your emotions with no connections to anyone," Shino said.

Feeling defensive, Naruto hissed.

"I wouldn't talk, Shino."

"That arrogance of yours is also a troubling development. I know precisely what it means to be in control of my emotions. My kikaichū react to my emotions and I to them. Maintaining a balance is a skill that all Aburame learn by the time they enter the Academy. However, we would never deny the fact that we feel these emotions, nor that we need others. A hive cannot function with just one member," Shino said, unruffled.

"Konoha being our hive?" Naruto asked dryly.

Shaking his head, Shino continued.

"No, that is an imprecise analogy. Within a hive, there is no room for dissent or ability to distance yourself from others. Like you have been doing. Tell me, do you even know who we are facing in the finals?"

"...Didn't know you passed." Naruto said, embarrassed.

"Precisely. You claim that we're still friends, but you do not even possess the knowledge that acquaintances would have. Tell me, Naruto, what does that say?" Shino asked.

Even knowing that Shino was begging the question, Naruto would at least hear him out.

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?" he asked.

"It says that you are trying to cut our bonds," Shino said calmly.

For several minutes, Naruto didn't say anything. Going back over the past few months… it was not intentional, but the blond had to admit that he'd done it.

"Alright, let's say you're right; what do you want me to do?" he asked.

"To gain perspective. You act and think as your teachers do. However, there are very large differences between you and them. You have not fought in several wars, and you have not found yourself old and side lined. Your preoccupation with being an 'old school' ninja has assisted your growth remarkably. However, now it has become a hindrance," Shino said, continuing his attack.

"A hindrance?" Naruto said, nonplussed.

With quiet conviction, Shino answered.

"Ninja do not fight alone, they do not die alone. It is the Will of Fire that makes us strong. Not the techniques, the skills, or equipment. It is the willingness to lay it all on the line for our comrades and Konoha that made us great. Your teachers themselves were examples of this. "

Naruto found himself looking at the carving. It was just a stick. Without thinking, he snapped it. His mind went back to Sarutobi's old words. 'One stick or strand of rope is easy. But when you have many of them working together, they are strong.' People were the same way. His teachers hadn't been strong just because they were skilled, but because they had each other. The snapped stick fell to the street below.

"...Thank you Shino. I'll think about this," Naruto said, looking at Shino.

Shino nodded and dropped the last emotional hammer of the evening.

"Hinata-chan is fighting Neji," he said.

Naruto went rigid. That was bad.

"Neji? But he hates the main house. Hinata-chan is strong, but she's never won a single match against him."

"I know. However, realities with in the Hyuuga mean that she must make the attempt," Shino agreed.

The bulky jacket made it hard to notice how much Shino disliked this fact.

"But...," Naruto said, more to himself than anything.

"It would mean a lot to her if you talked to her and gave your support," Shino continued.

"He could kill her," the blond muttered.

That it surprised Naruto how much he still cared about her was far more damning in Naruto's mind than Shino's speeches. Keep your friends close, Shin-sensei had said. In a misguided attempt to protect himself, Naruto had done the opposite of that; but those bonds were still there.

"That is the risk all of us run as ninja; you know this. We cannot stop this," Shino said.

Naruto shook his head out of his introspection.

"You're right. Who are you and Kiba fighting?" he asked

"I am facing a Dosu Kinuta from the Sound Village. Kiba is face TenTen from team Gai," Shino said quietly.

"Good luck," Naruto offered.

Shino's wry smile was hidden behind his collar.

"Uzumaki, have a little faith in your friends," he said before leaving Naruto alone.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Sakura leaned outside the window. It wasn't really comfortable, but it had a good view. Beside her, Naruto leaned out the other side of the window.

"Remind me again, Naruto. Why we couldn't be in the stands?" She asked.

"There are too many people in the stands. I'd be too jumpy to focus on the fights," Naruto said.

With an exasperated smile, the pinkette continued.

"And you want to see how Hinata does, don't you?"

"Yeah, this is important to her. To all of her friends, " Naruto said, face tight.

The two fell silent. Sakura watched the twelve fighters line up and bow for the crowd. The adulation and the chance to prove their strength would have been something that Sasuke would have loved, Sakura thought.

"Sasuke would want to be down there," she said sadly.

"I know, Sakura. I know," Naruto said quietly.

The two fell into silence. Finally, to get past the awkward silence, Sakura asked.

"You think these fights are going to be any good?"

The blond thought for a minute before saying.

"Should be. I don't know much about the Sound team or Team Asuma. However, Team Gai and Kurenai are going to put on a hell of a show, I think."

"You really have confidence in them, don't you," the green-eyed girl said.

"I do...they're my friends. I always believe in them," the whiskered boy responded.

'Just glad that Shino reminded me of that,' Naruto thought to himself, a guilty look played across his face.

The two fell silent as everyone except Genma, Hinata and Neji left the arena floor. Hinata and Neji faced off against each other.

"First match of the Chunin Exam: Hinata Hyuuga vs. Neji Hyuuga!" An announcer's voice boomed through the stadium.

Genma raised his hand. Bringing it down, he shouted  
"BEGIN!"

A/N:Alright so I'm not dead...and I do apologize for taking so long to get this out. Things got kind of crazy and I got involved in running a D&D game that ate up a lot of my creativity. Not an excuse just saying what happened. Combined with going back to school...eh. Anyways it's out and up and with any luck I'll update my other stories soon. Thanks to everyone who kept up with this. A big thank you to bookworm702 who edited this thing into something readable.


	16. Fighting

The proctor called for them to start, and Hinata jumped back, throwing down the precious poison gas grenade as she did so. White smoke filled the area where they were. Hinata landed and waited for Neji to charge out of the smoke. Even a few seconds exposure would slow him down and Hinata knew she needed every advantage she could get.

Neji let out a contemptuous snort.  
"Byakugan."

Neji took a deep breath, unheeding of the smokes true nature. Hinata had done her homework and used a tasteless, odourless toxin. Neji wanted to let the Clan Heiress know exactly what she was before he beat her down.

"You really thought that my eyes would be stopped by a little smoke, Hinata-sama? These eyes see all, and they see your fate: to be defeated here today by me. I have watched you, Hinata-sama. Watched you struggle to hold on to your friends, your family, your position.

"I see a girl too weak to hold on to anything. Her friends only stay with her out of pity. They know that she can't achieve much, but because they themselves are failures, if not quite to the same degree, they stay with you. Not because they want you, but because they feel sorry for you.

"They feel sorry for the failure who cannot even defeat a girl four years her junior in a spar. They feel sorry for a girl who was so afraid of the world that she stuttered until they helped her out of it.  
They feel sorry for someone who, despite having so much, is worth so little.

"But they'll learn, just like your family learned. Learn that you are weak, spineless and a waste of their time. Too weak to be a ninja, too sheltered to be anything but a burden to those around her. They will leave you. One of them already did once, only to be guilted back. How long will that guilt hold?

"I have seen your fate, Hinata-sama: to be alone, broken and weak. You cannot escape your destiny."

Hinata didn't flinch as Neji's words slammed into her. She could feel her faith in herself fading. She wasn't strong; she couldn't even hold on to Naruto-kun. She was weak; her own family was talking about sealing her...she wasn't...

Naruto's words came back to her.  
Neji is going to slam you into the ground with his mind games if he can. Don't let him. You are stronger and better than that. You take that hit and you ignore it. That'll rattle him more than anything else.

Hinata gave herself a mental shake. Naruto was right...but he was wrong, too. She wouldn't let her friends down, she wouldn't fail her nindo. She would triumph and make her clan into a family, and although ignoring Neji might have been the easy thing to do, it wasn't what she was going to do.

"Byakugan," She said quietly, but loud enough for Neji to hear.

"I am not weak. I am not a failure. I am Hinata Hyuuga; I will change the clan for you, and all my family. I will not give up; that is not who I am anymore. You can try to stop me and fail, Neji, or you can join me. The choice is yours. I don't want to fight my brother Neji, but I will if I have to."

Neji listened to her words.  
"Weak words from a weak heiress. Allow me to show you your fate!"  
He charged out of the smoke cloud, launching a palm strike at her.

"No," Hinata said quietly as she deflected the strike over her shoulder.

She launched a hard palm strike of her own into Neji's chest, sending him back.  
"You will not."

Neji staggered and felt his world blur. He was so tired; why was he so tired? Thoughts went through his head, rejecting ideas. A kai showed how it wasn't a genjutsu, so what was it..wait. That smoke bomb...hadn't been just smoke, Neji realized. It was a poison.

His hand reached into his jacket for a universal antidote; it wasn't as effective as a proper antidote was, but it would keep him going long enough to beat her.

Hinata rushed him, trying to destroy the vial. Her strikes were fast, flowing, and worryingly unpredictable. Neji blocked, dipped and dodged as best he could, but with one hand occupied and the poison continuing to slow him down, he couldn't get free.

He needed space, he needed it now. Throwing the vial up as hard as he could, Neji slid into a stance and revealed his first trump card.

"KAITEN!"

Hinata had just enough time to bring her arms up to protect her body as the blue chakra dome span into existence sending her flying. She landed ten feet away on one knee with both her hands on the ground. She could see the vial falling with her Byakugan. No matter what, she couldn't let Neji drink the antidote.

Pushing herself up off her feet, she ran towards Neji, throwing a brace of shuriken at the vial. Neji threw his own back. However, by then Hinata was in striking distance, and she let her strikes flow into a distracted Neji with all the desperation she had, her chakra attempting to overwhelm his and shut down the tenketsu in his arms.

Naturally enough, Neji was not on board with this plan. Even as Hinata attacked he blocked, dodged, and counterattacked her back. Even with the poison slowing him down, he could still match Hinata. However, each redirected attack, each block saw him becoming weaker. Neji snarled at himself in his frustration. He was a genius, he was better than her and no poison was going to bring him down before he took her down. One shot he had to be fast enough, to do this before the vial hit the ground.

"You...are in range of my divination," he said.

"One Palm!" A sharp blow into Hinata's stomach, the tenketsu valiantly trying to stay alive.  
"Two Palms!" Two more blows. Hinata couldn't move, the tenketsu couldn't hold on.  
"Four palms!" The hits were beginning to move faster now.  
"Sixteen Palms!" The invading chakra burned her tenketsu, it hurt, it hurt so much.  
"Thirty Two Palms!" Can't breath, can't think, have to stand.

The sound of glass shattering on the ground.

"Sixty Four Palms!" Neji continued his attack but the blows slowed, and stopped as he fell down.

Hinata caught Neji before he hit the ground, too. Her insides were on fire, but she could endure. She had won...finally. Have to see the medics and get fixed before her next match, though.

"I told you, Neji," she gasped out.

Hayate looked at the fallen genius. This was certainly an upset. He wondered how many people just lost their wallets.

"Neji Hyuuga is unable to battle. Hinata Hyuuga is the winner."

Hinata allowed herself a smile.  
I did it, Naruto...Father...I won, She thought to herself. She took one step towards the exit, carrying Neji with her, when finally the damage she took caught up to her, and she collapsed.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Naruto let out a deep breath as the doctors finally reached Hinata and Neji. They seemed to provide some basic first aid before carrying them off.

"Well that was...impressive. Neji's a genius, from what I hear, and Hinata won," Sakura said.

"Yeah."

"You don't look happy."

"She won...but she's still out of the tournament."

"Oh. Why?"

"Neji might not have been able to put her down for the count, but that last attack will make her chakra too screwy to risk going forward with."

"Oh"

Sakura turned and looked as two new fighters came on to the field.

"It's Kiba and who again?"

"TenTen, no family name. Weapon specialist, projectile mostly. Kiba's going to have a hard fight."

"Why do you say that? Kiba might be...a little too into dogs and thinking like them...but he's strong, right?"

"Kiba is strong. In everything but flexibility, he has the advantage physically..."

"I'm hearing a but."

"Kiba's my friend, and he's always fought with his heart. TenTen fights with her mind. That's always an iffy match up. The heart can make you do things you never thought you'd do...and according to the Will of Fire, make you go beyond your limits. Thing is, though...the heart has to be in the fight."

"And you don't think Kiba is?"

"I think that Kiba is going to be worried about Hinata...so am I. That's going to hurt him."

"But TenTen was Neji's team mate. Won't she be worried, too?"

"She is, but again, fights with her mind. She can work past that."

"You think so?"

"That was the impression I got when I worked with her. She has emotions and can tell you off if you're being a dick, but in a fight...well, she specializes in steel. I think Kiba can and will win. I just wonder about the price."

X-X-X-X-X

TenTen breathed in and out, looking at the boy across from her. Everything she found out about the Inuzuka told her that Kiba fought with his dog and would try to overwhelm her with sheer physical power.

Lee tried to do the same thing when they sparred. She knew how to handle that sort of thing. TenTen knew she could win this.

"Second match of the first round between Tenten and Kiba Inuzuka...begin."

Kiba smirked and dashed forward to close the gap between them. TenTen had already jumped up and back while dropping a grenade. Grenades were not a common ninja tool, bulkier than explosive tags and prone to misfires, they did have one thing over sealing tags: the ability to carry shrapnel

The spray of metallic shards exploded into Kiba, who had just enough time to block his face. The metal didn't wound exactly, but it hurt.

"Gahh! Akamaru, you okay?"

The dog barked, having sensibly hidden behind his master when the grenade was dropped.

"Nice trick, but it won't save you twice."

TenTen let herself smirk.

"I don't need to use it twice."

Opening a scroll she let out a rain of metal caltrops on to the field. Kiba leapt back from the falling caltrops and the metal spikes scattered around the field. Tenten landed and immediately used more scrolls to create a field of caltrops between her and Kiba.

"...You expect this to stop me? They're just a bunch of metal spikes; I can avoid them."

"Really, you think this is all I have? You're good-" TenTen reached for the stink bomb and threw it at them.

"But not that good."

Kiba gagged as the foul odour assaulted his senses. Akamaru let out a whine of pain and discomfort.

"Damn it!"

TenTen felt her smirk grow wider, it was all going according to plan. She felt bad playing them like this, but she had to win. That was all there was to it. Sliding out senbon needles, she launched a small volley toward the still pained Akamaru. The needles hit the dog, who let out a yelp and then fell over. It looked like he was dead. TenTen knew that Akamaru wasn't, just in a near death state.

Kiba looked at his dog, then TenTen, and then back to his dog. Even from here TenTen could see something in his eyes snap.

"...I'm going to kill you!" he shouted.

Kiba didn't bother to evade or avoid the scattered caltrops, he just ran through them, building up speed as he launched into his Tsūga. TenTen was too shocked to move. Instinctively, she put up her arms to block as Kiba rained down blows on her. His claw like fingers tore her skin and pieces of her off. The force of the attack knocked her backwards, almost out of the caltrop field. However, her landing still left her with several of the pointed metal objects in her back.

TenTen grimaced; this was not in the plan. She forced herself to her feet. Thank Hotei she hadn't actually poisoned the caltrops. Kiba was still coming...too fast... need a melee weapon. Opening her scroll, she pulled out a staff and swung with all her might at Kiba.

The staff broke over his back. The enraged dog nin just kept coming. Even with the dozens of caltrops in his feet. It was like he didn't feel any pain, didn't feel anything...except the desire to hurt her.

There wasn't time for TenTen to block the next Tsūga. Again, claws ripped into her flesh. The pain of having her skin torn open was intense. The sheer force of the blow knocked her back down again.

Stand...stand, damn you. On your pride as a kunoichi, stand! TenTen raged at herself. She could feel blood dripping from her wounds. What the hell was she going to do...there was no choice. She had to use it.

Pulling out two scrolls and putting them upright she released her chakra sending them flying up in pillars of smoke. TenTen lept up between the two pillars that had now turned into dragons.  
"Sōshōryū," she called.

Kiba looked up at her, waiting for the assault. TenTen didn't disappoint. Sōshōryū was not an attack of grace or elegance. It was a brutal all out attack of metal and edges. Kunai, kusari-gama, swords, axes, kama, spears, bladed sai, shuriken; TenTen knew them all, understood them. How to use them, how to throw them, how to get the most out of them. It was something earned through blood, sweat and tears. Now, the storm of metal descended on Kiba.

Kiba howled as the weapons began to hit their mark, then he moved. Not away from her, not out of the way of the storm of weapons, not what any sane, rational being would do, but he moved towards her. Tearing a sword out of his shoulder and using it to batter away anything too big to allow to hit.

More and more weapons, a knife, a rapier, a dao, a cestus. It didn't matter what it was, TenTen could throw it. Kiba just kept coming. He took wounds; in any other situation, he would have fallen before this storm if he didn't dodge. But, she hurt his dog, and he was going to kill her for that.

"Unbelievable," TenTen gasped as she landed, her arsenal spent. Somehow, against every single piece of sense and logic. Kiba was still standing and now he was near her. Blood dripped from the dozens of cuts and piercings that she had just made in his body. There was so much blood...she'd killed men who had less blood in them. Yet he just kept coming.

There was no time to try and make the storm of metal attack him again as he launched a final Tsūga into TenTen, sending the girl flying into the wall.

How...how does he keep going?...He should be dead...he...just keeps coming. We're both Konoha ninja but...he really wants to kill me. Get up, girl, get up. You have to live, dammit!

Again, TenTen forced herself to her feet. Most of her weapons were too far away to use...the only one left was an old tsurugi style sword. Calling on her chakra strings, she pulled into her hands. It was a weapon that was all but broken. She had cared for it. It was still old, and had seen far too much. She only kept it because the thought of not having all of her weapons with her was abhorrent.

Kiba was on his last legs; still, TenTen was alive, so he kept going. He was going to kill her, that was all there was to it. He was going to kill her! It didn't matter that his body was so full of metal that it shouldn't be possible to move, He was going to kill her.

The enraged boy advanced on her, raining down blows. TenTen brought the sword up to attack, only to have it batted aside, shattering the old metal in two. TenTen could feel the claws dig into her. It was only some last desperate instinct on her part that the wounds weren't lethal. Finally, Kiba tired of this and settled for just wrapping his hands around her neck.

TenTen could feel her wind piped being crushed. Can't breathe, can't think; she fought the desperate impulse to to claw at her neck to try and pry the vice like grip from it.

'The sword, stab him and kill him before he kills you!', a primal part of her roared. TenTen struggled to keep her mind clear as she used her chakra string to call the sword back to her hand. Stabbing the broken blade into Kiba as hard as she could, TenTen felt the last traces of consciousness leave her.

The broken sword plunged into Kiba's torso. Only the lack of air had prevented TenTen from properly targeting the blow to make it lethal. Still, the shock, combined with all the other wounds he had taken, was finally enough to pierce Kiba's white hot rage. The Inuzuka boy dropped.

"Both sides are unable to battle...this match is a draw," Hayate got out.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Wow,0\" Sakura said. It seemed inadequate, even to her.

Naruto formed a clone. The clone took off towards the infirmary.

"Checking on them?" Sakura asked.

Naruto nodded.  
"Yeah...I've never seen Kiba that hurt...or that angry. I really hope Akamaru isn't dead."

A suppressed shudder. Killing an Inuzuka's dog...was like declaring a blood feud.  
"Would TenTen do that?"

The blond shrugged.  
"Maybe, maybe not. Maybe she just used senbon to put Akamaru in a false death state. I dunno."

Sakura shook her head.  
"That was just brutal. I hope the next matches are a little more tame."

"Next match is Rock Lee and Shikamaru Nara," Naruto said, looking at the field

Sakura frowned, trying to remember the first name.  
"Rock Lee?"

"Maito Gai's apprentice. Haven't seen him fight, but I hear he's a Taijutsu specialist like his sensei," Naruto answered.

"So, who's going to win?"

"I don't know," the blond admitted.

X-X-X-X-X-X

This, Shikamaru reflected, was such a drag. Rock Lee was probably one of his worst match ups. Faster, stronger, and generally better at the physical arts. Lee could take him apart with a single punch. Honestly, he just wanted to give up. However, he knew that his mom would be...troublesome if he did so. So, how to win? The answer was to make it so Lee couldn't reach him before the Kagemane no jutsu could.

There was no practical way to stop Lee from hitting Shikamaru if they started out in the ring together. So the Nara had concocted this plan: don't be in the ring when the fight started.  
The bunshin that Shikamaru sent out reacted accordingly to the called start. Only to have Lee punch through it.

So troublesome. The tree he was in gave a measure of protection; there was enough shadow to make it so Lee couldn't get to him without being caught. At the same time, this relied on Lee coming to him. Still, the Nara mused, it should work. If Lee was anything like his sensei Maito Gai, then he would prefer to fight head on and would come at Shikamaru.

Rock Lee looked at the dispelling bunshin. How unyouthful. Looking around, he tried to find Shikamaru.

Part one of the plan was a success. Now Shikamaru just had to draw the boy into a shadow. To that end, it was time to give away his position.  
I just want to watch clouds. Troublesome.

Rock Lee heard the kunai coming before he saw it, and had moved out of its way before it could reach him. Looking at where it landed, he guessed that it came from that tree. Which meant that was where Shikamaru was.

"I see. So the unyouthful Shikamaru hides in the trees to avoid an open match."

Lee slammed his fist into his palm.  
"I will restore his flames of youth!"

The...hell? Shikamaru looked at the strange boy in the open area. Lee took off towards the shade of the tree. Got you, Shikamaru allowed himself to think.

Only for Lee to jump. The older genin looked down at the tree trying to find Shikamaru, who was camouflaged. Looking, he couldn't see anything. Only one thing for it: take the tree down.  
It is impossible to change direction once you were in midair without an outside force.

Lee didn't change direction, but chambered a kick and went through the tree branches. The sound of snapping wood and rustling leaves filled the air. Shikamaru already had his hands in the rat seal that his clan's Shadow jutsu favoured. Shadows came out to hold Lee, down but the boy was moving too fast and the chaotic swirl of the falling leaves and branches made it difficult to navigate to Lee's Shadow. Waiting until the last moment before Lee landed and pushed off again, Shikimaru used his jutsu

"Kagemane no jutsu: Success."

Lee grunted as he felt his body freeze up. He looked towards where Shikimaru was standing.  
"This is a real drag, so-"

Shikimaru walked along the branch forcing Lee out from under the tree. He could feel each step was like moving a mountain..what the hell did this guy eat to weigh so much?

"-I'm just going to make you quit."

Shikimaru raised his hand. Lee began to raise his own in the gesture of surrender and then stopped. The hand was visibly trembling with the effort, but Lee was resisting the effects of the jutsu...how?

"I am not going to quit. I have to prove that I will be a Splendid Ninja."

Hold on, hold on. More chakra, make him quit before he breaks the jutsu, Shikamaru told himself.

"MY FLAMES OF YOUTH ARE NOT SO EASILY QUENCHED!"

The Kagemane jutsu shattered as Rock Lee put his hand back down. Shikamaru knew this could happen in theory, knew it could happen, but he never actually had it happen to him before. Before he could formulate another plan, Lee jumped up and planted his fist firmly into Shikamaru's face.

The lazy genius was unconscious before he hit the ground.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Well, that was...dull."

"Shikamaru wasn't prepared for his strategy to fail, and didn't have time to come up with a new one."

"Still, after the first two matches-,"

"It's nice to have one that didn't end with both parties needing medics to get off the field."

"I thought you'd be more blood thirsty."

"... ."

"Sorry."

"Well, I can kill because of the job or mission..it doesn't mean I like seeing people on my own side hurt."

"Who's the next match?"

"Shino and that Hidden Sound Ninja, Dosu."

"Hidden Sound?"

"They're a minor village. This is their first year, so getting to the finals is kind of impressive."

"Will Shino win?"

"Yes."

X-X-X-X-X-X

Hayate shouted, "Shino Aburame versus Dosu Kinuta, begin!"

Neither Shino or Dosu moved. Shino watched his opponent. There had been maddeningly little information on his opponent. Then again, there wasn't much on how Aburame fought beyond insects being used to drain chakra.

Still, Dosu had given away some of his abilities earlier in the stands. Shino had attempted to place some kikachu on his opponent. While technically cheating, everyone knows that if you aren't cheating, then you aren't trying. Dosu had used some sort of sound based technique to kill them.

It wasn't deafening them or attacking the hearing organs, it was just shattering them through vibrations. Which meant, that although Dosu could create resonance, he couldn't adapt them that well, Shino reasoned. He also reasoned that the frequency was probably set to humans, thus the twin kikachu in his ear serving as makeshift earplugs.

The pair continued to stand motionless, looking at each other. Each going over how an opening move would go. Kick to the knee, block and-no that wouldn't work. Palm strike to the jaw, counter kick to the abdomen. No, too open. Shino frowned minutely as attacks were discarded like clockwork. That gray device on his arm was a weapon. Letting a weapon hit you was a bad plan. But with it attached to Dosu's arm, it made it incredibly difficult to engage in hand to hand and not get hit by it.

Shino's mind discarded a feinted roundhouse kick as leading him to eating dirt. The problem was that with the Kikachu essentially nullified, hand to hand is what he had left.

Twin lengths of wood slid out of Shino's sleeves. He had hoped to reveal this later but that arm worried Shino too much to not use the twin tambo. The ebony sticks were about as long as his forearm and treated for the rigours of most ninja combat. If hand to hand was too dangerous, then weapon to weapon would have to do.

Shino rushed Dosu, striking low with the tambo in his left. Dosu swung a haymaker at Shino's temple. The second tambo was brought up in a second to block the Melody Arm from connecting.

Dosu grunted as the hard wood slammed into his kidney. Shino allowed himself to mentally congratulate himself. The force applied would be enough to cause the blood vessels to burst. Now to withdraw and let blood loss take care of the rest.

The Sound ninja had other plans, as a wave of sound extended from the Melody arm. The tambo kept it from touching Shino, and Shino's kikachu served as a decent barrier for himself. However, no such protections had been afforded to his kikachu. True the queen and breeders lived deep enough inside Shino to be safe. But in a little under ten seconds, Shino lost half his hive.

Shino staggered back, reeling. Losses in battle were accepted and expected, but to lose that many at once was something that would shake any Aburame. Their relationship was symbiotic.

Dosu again swung his Melody Arm at Shino. On instinct more than anything, Shino pushed the sticks into the Melody Arm, keeping it far enough away that the deadly sound wouldn't claim anymore of his hive.

Again and again, Dosu brought his Melody Arm down on Shino, attempting to get that flesh contact to finish the fight. Again and again, twin sticks of ebony blocked and deflected the sound weapon. The crowd watched with baited breath as both struggled to get the upperhand.

Both parties were painfully aware of their time limit. Shino knew that his tambo would only last so long under the assault. Although designed to handle the power of a full on Gatsuga, the Melody Arm attacked the wood in a different way, one that it hadn't been treated to defend against. When it did break, he was screwed.

Yet Dosu had his own time limit. That opening strike against his kidney had hit and hit hard; his kidney was partially destroyed. The human body pumped all of its blood through the kidneys every five minutes. That much blood loss would kill him.

Shino parried another strike away from him and jabbed with the other tambo into Dosu's solar plexus. Dosu grunted as grabbed the stick and pulled it as Shino tried to bring it up. Shino stumbled as he was forced closer than he wanted.

Dosu straight up headbutted Shino in the face once he was in range. Shino staggered back, blood dripping out of his nose and colouring his jacket. His trademark shades shattered.

"Take that, you Leaf punk."

Shino settled for glaring. The headbutt had changed things, broken the rhythm that had settled between blocking attacks. Dosu overwhelmed Shino the Melody Arm forcing Shino to his knees as the world swam.

No time for finesse, no time for logic or tactics, Shino realized and tackled Dosu from his kneeling position, knocking the Sound Nin over. The two struggled for dominance both fighting on pure instinct. It wasn't a fight between ninja, cool, professional and detached; it was young teens doing their level best to kill each other.

Naturally, the crowd loved it.

The pair struggled until Shino managed to force Dosu onto his back and stay there. Dosu continued to fight as Shino drove a brutal finger jab into his eye. Dosu screamed as he was blinded.  
Shino grabbed Dosu's arm and with a sickening crunch snapped the elbow so it was bending at a 180 degree angle. Dosu's screams got louder didn't last long as Shino brought the Melody Arm down on Dosu's head and forcing chakra into it. The soundwaves shook them both, but Dosu was so much closer to the wave that his brain vibrated into a pulp. Blood streamed from Dosu's ears as his brain finally had enough and turned to nothing more than goo.

Shino staggered to his feet and picked up his tambo. His entire body felt like it had been shattered and put back together. Still, he had won and that was what counted.

"Winner: Shino." Hayate called.

The Aburame nodded and staggered off to the medics. This fight had taken a lot out of him and even though he could keep going, logic dictated getting himself healed as much as possible.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Ino stepped onto the field, walking to the center. This was her chance, her chance to show everyone that she was good enough and strong enough. Sasuke's death had shaken her, even though they hadn't interacted since that day the Hokage talked to her. Ino had still hoped to build a friendship and romance with Sasuke after she became Chunin. Afterall, she couldn't let Sakura win.

That no longer mattered. Sasuke was dead; there was nothing anyone could do about that. All that was left was the need to become Chunin, and finally get this choker off her neck. She squared her shoulders back. Everything she had put herself through since that day came down to this. The long hours training her taijutsu, learning katon jutsu, mastering the use of kusarigama. All that work, so she could get her family hijutsu back.

The boy across from her, Zaku something or other, smirked at her. Probably thought this would be easy because she was a girl. Ino felt her temper flare even as she gave a pretty smile at him. She'd show this asshole the pride of the Yamanaka.

"Ino Yamanaka versus Zaku Abumi, begin!" Hayate shouted.

Zaku wasted no time bringing up his hands and launching a torrent of air at Ino.

"Zankūha!"

Ino leaped to the side, avoiding the worst of the blast but felt a piercing sensation in her shoulder. Looking, she saw it had been nicked barely. Even a glancing blow is enough to pierce my skin, I can't afford to take that head on, she thought to herself.

The sound nin redirected his arms and fired again.  
"Zankūha!"

The blonde ran to the side avoiding the blast completely this time.  
Is that all he knows how to do? She wondered.

"Zankūha!" Another blast.

Ino dodged that blast and another. Looks like it. Then, if I can get his arms down, this match is mine.

The Yamanaka continued to dodge the blasts from Zaku, continuing to circle closer and closer with each dodge, pulling out her kusarigama. The chain would work perfectly here.

"Zankūha!" Zaku screamed, frustration clear on his face.

Whirling the chain around in a circle, Ino launched it at Zaku's arm. The metal links wrapped around the boy's arms and pulled them together. Pulling on her end of the chain, Ino forced Zaku to stumble and go to the ground.

Ino took advantage of Zaku being on the ground and came behind him. Pulling his arms so that the deadly air tubes were pointing at something else, Ino placed the tip of the sickle against Zaku's spine

"Surrender," Ino hissed.

"Fuck you, bitch!" Zaku snarled back.

Zaku fired the sound and air again. Only this time instead of directing it in a simple straight line blast. He sent it backwards, knocking Ino away. She kept her grip on her chain though. The metal pulled tight against Zaku's arms, tight enough to break the skin as physics continued to pull Ino farther and farther away. The delicate air tubes were dented just as the chain snapped off the kusarigama.

Ino looked at her broken weapon, then back at Zaku. What the hell had just happened? She had him dead to rights and then he just decided no? That bastard. At least her injuries weren't so bad. He must have held back because of the redirection.

The Sound Ninja got up, looked at his arms and then looked at her.

"YOU BITCH! YOU RUINED MY ARMS!"

"Right. I did that," Ino said as she processed this.

Zaku charged her, clearly expecting Ino to be unable to handle him in hand to hand. Ino danced out of his palm thrust and elbowed him in the jaw, showing Zaku why he was wrong. The Sound nin attempted to to kick Ino, who blocked and reached under his leg and stabbed into a pressure point below the knee. Zaku grimaced as he wrenched his leg out of Ino's grip.

Ino went on the offence, using one arm to break through Zaku's guard and the other to land a punch on his solar plexus. Zaku groaned as he felt the wind knocked out of him. Ino raised her hand to grab Zaku's collar and pull him down into a waiting elbow. As the hard joint smashed into Zaku's temple, he staggered.

The Yamanaka bent at the waist to avoid the palm strike aimed at her chest. Giving Zaku a kick in the face for his trouble. Zaku's rage was allowing him to push past his limits, Ino could see that. The problem was that it also made him annoyingly resilient.  
She slipped under his guard sending a palm strike at his jaw while punching him in the kidneys and finishing the little combo with a punch to his diaphragm.

GO DOWN DAMN YOU! Ino screamed mentally.

"Hah! You little bitch! you don't even-"  
Zaku's pupils dilated as Ino kicked him hard in the groin.  
"Hurt me," he squeaked.

Zaku's hand dropped to cup himself in his pain, allowing Ino to beat him into unconsciousness.  
"And stay down, you bastard," Ino snarled as Zaku's eyes closed.

"Winner: Ino Yamanaka!"

Ino walked off the field with her head held high.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Well, Ino stepped up her game, didn't she?" Naruto said, looking at the downed Ninja.

Sakura shivered.  
"Yeah, she's...better than me."

Naruto gave her a half smile.  
"For now, Sakura, for now. Still have to say kicking him in the groin was a bit of a bitch move."

Sakura snorted.  
"Oh, like you wouldn't have done it."

"Point," Naruto said.

The pair fell silent briefly as Ino and Zaku cleared the field.

"Chouji's the last one in the first round, right?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah," Naruto answered.

Both wanted Choji to win, but neither knew him well enough to say one way or another, so they remained silent.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Choji felt nervous. He didn't really want to fight. He'd much prefer to just be a genin with Shikamaru. But Ino, Ino wanted to be a chunin. So, here they were. Choji watched the Sound girl as she looked up and down over him and gave a contemptuous snort.

"Choji Akimichi versus Kin Tsuchi, begin!" Hayate called.

"Oi, Fatass, just surrender," Kin said.

Choji felts his blood boil.  
"What did you call me?" He asked quietly.

"Did I stutter, Fatass?" Kin said with a smirk.

Snap, Choji felt his temper explode into an inferno.  
"I AM NOT FAT! JUST BIG BONED!"  
Choji grew into a ball like shape as he screamed.  
"Nikudan Sensha!"

Kin found herself looking up the mass of human flesh rolling towards her.

"Ah crap."  
She tried to get out of the way, that attempt was the only thing that prevented her death. As it was, she still found her left side crushed beyond use. Her limbs refused to move, she would get better in time, but that attack had defeated her, and he was coming back.

Words, words that meant Orochimaru-sama would kill her, came to Kin's lips.  
"I surrender."  
Still, better to live and try for some redemption then to die now.

"Winner, Choji Akimichi!" Hayate said a sigh of relief.

Choji couldn't hear the proctor's call and kept coming. Hayate snarled something about assholes making him work for a living. Picking up Kin, he used the Sushin to get out of the way. Without a target, Choji stopped, realizing he had won.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Well that was fast," Sakura said, watching Kin being carried off the field.

"Looks like she underestimated him and paid the price. See underneath the underneath and all that," Naruto replied.

Sakura was about to comment when a massive explosion echoed from the Hokage's monument. The two genin whirled their heads to look as Yondaime's face fell off the mountain, crushing the area below.

Neither spoke, they both knew without words, that the Chunin Exams were over. The Battle of Konoha had just begun, and their enemies had the initiative.

A/N: Good grief, it's been a while hasn't it. I have no excuses, only apologies. Anyways for all of those still reading, thanks for sticking with me. I'd like to thank my Beta Bookworm702 for his work hammering this into something readable. With any luck I can get the next chapter out faster. Happy Holidays everyone.


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